Love Tale of the Past

by Bellalinguista

David Munroe’s photography job takes him to a tribe in Kenya where he finds the High Priestess, N’Dare. The two fall into a forbidden love which is frowned upon the tribe. R&R Complete

1. Chapter One: Escape From the City

X-Men: The Movie

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own X-Men. It belongs to Marvel.

Title: Love Tale of the Past

Setting: Before Storm's time; before the meeting of her parents.

Genre: Comic/Romance/Drama

Author's Note: I came up with this idea after I wrote Gone, But Not Forgotten and I'm so excited to be writing it. :) I hope you all enjoy.

Summary: David Munroe's photography job takes him to a tribe in Kenya where he finds the High Priestess, N'Dare. The two fall into a forbidden love which is frowned upon the tribe. (R&R)

Chapter One

Escape From The City

Local Café in New York City

It was a murky day in the Big Apple, clouds hung gloomily, ready to burst into rain droplets at any given moment, but that didn't stop a certain young photographer from sitting outside his favorite café. The twenty four year old man flipped through the Post as he leaned back in his chair, enjoying a cappuccino. His dark brown eyes were narrowed slightly as he tried to read the tiny font, which was beginning to give him a slight headache. A soft grunt escaped from the back of his throat as he wipes the tiny sprinkles off his chocolate colored skin. Honestly, it had been days, weeks, since he had a proper job and he seriously needed the money to pay off this month's rent.

Being caught up in his own little world at the moment, another young man had managed to sneak up to David Munroe's table. This man was tall, lanky… The typical blond haired blue eyed baby. He was smirking slightly; he was up to something, of course. His stupid smirk always gave that away. David folded up the newspaper.

"So, I need to know." The man spoke. "Are you in or not? I need a photographer; you need a decent paying job."

"Working with you is never… decent, Robert." David remarked as his hands picked up the small cup of his remaining cappuccino. He brought it to his lips and sipped the rest so that nothing remained. "But you're right, I need a paying job, for sure." He placed the empty cup back down on the table and brought all four legs of the chair upon the ground. He stared at his friend right in the eye. God, did he had Robert's smirk. The last time he saw it, they were pulled over by a cop for speed racing on the highway; not a bright idea.

Rob's hand picked up the folded paper and glanced it over quickly, "I heard from Kendra. She's not too happy at the moment, right? You two in a little fight or something again? Need to get away from her for a few weeks?" He offered.

"Getting away from her would be heaven at the moment." David replied honestly. True enough, he and his girl friend, Kendra, weren't really seeing eye to eye. Well, now that he thought about it… They never really did see eye to eye with anything.

"Then what's the problem?" Robert asked, tossing the paper aside. "I need a photographer for my new story for TIME magazine. You need the job and need to get away from your girl. What's more to ask for, right? Have I ever have let you down before?"

David raised his eyebrows slightly as the corners of his lips twitched in a small smile. Oh yeah, there were plenty of times. Now of days, he really didn't hold his hopes high. He always expected a failure of some sort, especially from this man. "This trip is paid for right? I barely have enough to cover the rent, let alone airfare." He pointed out.

"Yeah, of course it's paid for!" Robert answered. "Two, three weeks tops, in Kenya. That's Africa-"

"I know where Kenya is, Rob." David interrupted. "My granddad lived in Kenya before migrating to the States."

"Really? I thought your family was from Nigeria or something." He mumbled; David just merely shook his head. "Well, anyways, yeah, the trip is completely paid for. We're not staying in a hotel, however. We're staying at the tribe we're going to be visiting." He informed.

"Do you know which tribe?" David questioned next as he took a gaze up towards the darkening sky. He watched Rob shake his head. "Alright… Sounds like I'm in, I guess… for the money at least."

"Great." Rob stated. "I just know that this tribe is lead by the women-"

"So they're pretty much know what they're doing." David remarked with a tiny smirk of his own.

Rob shook his head lightly. "This is going to be one hell of a trip."

David nodded his head in agreement as he stood up from the table, "I'll see you around." He said before pushing his chair in. "Give me a call later on tonight with the trip details." He watched Rob nod and then headed off to the nearest bus stop on foot. Yeah, living in the Big Apple with hardly any transportation was a bit difficult, but he did get his daily amount of exercise by walking to just about everywhere. After a few more moments on foot, he came to a stop at his destination: the bus stop. A small smile reappeared on his face. Yeah, a few weeks away from this place would serve me good. Not only that, but he was being paid to do so. What more could he possibly ask for? Alright, maybe a better girlfriend who didn't threaten you with a frying pan would be good, but we all can't have what we ask for, now can we?

David Munroe's Appartment

The café was only a mere twenty minute bus ride from his small, one bedroom apartment. It wasn't much of a place, but it did serve its purpose. It was a roof over his head and that's all that really mattered. There were a ton of bums living in the streets of New York. He was grateful to even have this place. Honestly, he rarely was at home. His job kept him out a lot. He loved taking pictures of the city. No two pictures were ever the same and that's what he truly loved. He had a strong passion for photography. If only Kendra shared the same interest.

He searched through his fridge as his answering machine played in the background. He was looking for a small bite to eat; a snack, then he would returning to packing for the trip. "Kendra, Kendra, Kendra…" He mumbled over and over against with a muffled voice, shaking his head as he continued to listen to the ridiculous message on the machine.

"-and you're just too different, David Munroe. You spend more times taking those stupid pictures that you call 'art' then with me. What kind of boy friend does that? Honestly-"

The voice suddenly died when David had unplugged the machine. Thank God, too. That voice could only be heard for so longer before sounding like nails running across a chalkboard. Gratefully, he won't to have to deal with her until he came back. No, he wasn't even going to tell her he was leaving the country for a bit. Damnit, he needed his vacation without hearing her nagging.

He walked over to the living room, where he had cloth lines running across from wall-to-wall. No, he didn't use it for any type of laundry, what-so-ever, instead, he used it to hang drying pictures. A few were already hung and dry, ready to come down at any moment. He took a step back to just admire the photos for a second before taking them down and placing them in a pile on the coffee table. He would deal with those also when he got back from this little trip.

But there was something he had to handle before he left. With a grumble, he picked up the wad of bills sitting on the sofa. Damn bills. He barely had enough as it was and now the government wanted that and then some. He quickly flipped through them. Good, all he had to do was send them out and he would be fine until next month. God, he hated this repeating cycle. He rubbed his forehead slightly, feeling a small headache coming on. God, where was the Advil when you needed it?

The phone that was sitting silently on the coffee table along with the pile of dried photographs began to ring. David simply began to hum along with the tune. It took a second or two to realize that it was actually ringing and that he wasn't imagining the tune in his head. He stumbled over the small foot rest in front of the sofa as he grabbed the phone and brought it to his ear, "H-Hello?"

"David. It's Rob."

For a minute, he thought it would be Kendra… Now that would have been great, wouldn't it? "Yeah, what's up?" He asked.

"The taxi should be there soon-"

"Taxi? Soon? Are you kidding me? I'm not even done packing yet!" He pointed out.

Rob chuckled lightly on the other end, "Well, you better hurry, my friend. This plane will leave with or without us."

"Why didn't you tell me that panel was actually leaving today? Rob, I can't believe you sometimes!" David remarked. "Damnit, I got to go." He didn't wait for a reply. He threw the phone back down and rushed to his bedroom, only to return to the living room. He picked up the phone once more. Guilt had gotten to him. He had to call Kendra whether he liked it or not. Rather slowly, he dialed the number and brought the phone to his ear.

It rang a few times before the machine picked up. Thank God he got the machine. He wouldn't have to deal with any extra yelling, "Hey, Kendra, baby…" He began. "Uh, listen… Rob offered me a job and I took it, so I'll be out of the… umm… country for a bit. I'll be in Kenya for the next week or two. Uh… see you when I get back, alright?" He state nervously as he hung up the phone. There was going to be hell when he got back.

Kenya, Africa

David hung over his camera, carefully putting in a new roll of film as Rob was off talking to one of the ferry men… boat men. Whatever you call them these days… Guides. He shook his head slightly as he brought the camera's eye piece to his eye and took a step forward on the dock. Guessing that the first picture probably wouldn't come out anyways… He took a quick snap shot of the docks. It actually felt pretty nice to be in his homeland. Well, his grandfather's homeland. This was his first time in Kenya, truth be told.

Robert came up from behind and patted David on the shoulder before leading him to a pretty small boat with an engine. David raised an eyebrow, wondering just how cheap Robert really was. Did they even have a guide? He frowned lightly as he watched another young man with extremely dark skin climb in after Rob. Ah, so there was a guide. David held onto his camera tightly before stepping on board himself. Rob was already sitting down, messing around with his tape recorder, getting it set. The other man introduced himself as Cyni, who would be their guide for the entire two week trip.

Cyni started talking most about the area. At least, that's what David thought. He really wasn't paying attention. Once the boat was on the move and heading up the river, he was more concentrated on talking pictures. He had taken a few rolls of film, just in case he got all trigger-happy with the camera. At least he was on the safe side. This was Africa. The eye piece hardly left his sight.

"You want to be careful with this tribe." Cyni warned. "Especially to the women. This is not like America, I'm afraid. You anger these women and you will be lucky to return with all your limbs. So, show respect." Well, that certainly caught David's attention. He lowered the camera. "Do not keep eye contact with them," Cyni continued. "Unless you are instructed that you can. Ask for permission before you do anything to be on the safe side-"

"Anything?" Robert remarked. "You're kidding right?"

Cyni shook his head. "Just to be safe, do it, and do not question their beliefs, their magic, and, especially, there high priestess."

Robert nodded slightly, "This is going to be a difficult story to write." He murmured under his breath, gazing over towards David who shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just taking pictures." The photographer pointed out.

"Shut up." Rob mumbled.

"You are to take this tribe very seriously." Cyni went on, keeping control of the engine as the boat continued up the river. Once more, Rob nodded in agreement.

"You said something earlier about magic. Can you tell us what type of magic?" David asked.

Robert perked up slightly as he hit the record button on his tape recorder. Moments like this, David asked some pretty decent questions that usually came with answers he could use in his own story. That's why he loved taking David along on these sort of trips. He always got extra information.

"No outsider has ever had the pleasure of seeing their magic." Cyni replied. "They are very protective over it. It is handed down from generation to generation and only the females may practice it. It is forbidden for the males. So, there are no chances that you will be witnessing a ritual of any sort."

"Now, that's really a shame." David remarked. "Why not share their culture with the world? What if their magic can actually benefit the world?"

"Sir, it's just voodoo." Cyni chuckled lightly. "Don't get so worked up about it."

With that said, David fell back to silence as Rob stopped the recorder. Well, that sort of a dud.

To Be Continued

Just another reminder, I'm really just taking a stab at this. I'm not really expecting a lot of reviews to come out from this. I'm not sure just how many people would be interested in reading this anyways, but if you've made it this far, then please review.
In the next chapter, David and N'Dare finally meet for the first time.