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: Heh. I'm horrible at updating, I really am, and I'm really sorry about it, but here's your new chapter! I'm starting to bring this story to an end. Of course there has to be a big bam before the end also! I just gotta cause drama for the characters!
Whoo. I'm starting to feel evil.
I thought this chapter was a bit short, so I went ahead and threw the beginning of chapter seven at the end to give it length.
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 Six
Away From the Jungle
Deep Within the Jungle – The Cave
Hours were slowly slipping by; it was an extremely long night. David didn't dare to sleep. He wasn't going to nap through all this chaos. No, he wasn't going to rest until they were safely on their way back home or away from this jungle. This vacation had proven to be more trouble then it was relaxing. Hell, he would have stuck it out with Kendra for two weeks then go through all of this. He yawned lightly as he rubbed his head. His eyelids were so heavy, but just didn't want to sleep.
Not to mention, Cyni was watching him like a hawk. Honestly, what was so interesting about him? Every once in a while, he caught Cyni throw some sort of nasty glare. This wasn't right, not at all. It only added to the fear of closing his eyes for more than three seconds. David quickly glanced at the tour guide once more before laying down on the dirt, his back towards the man. Alright, now he was just being freaky. It felt rather nice to be laying down again. His body was aching; he needed to sleep on a mattress. He was craving to return home, back to the apartment.
He was missing the comfort of his home, that's for sure. He sighed lightly, curling up close next to N'Dare, wrapping his arms around her protectively. It was his fault that she was in this mess. None of this had to happen to her.
Cyni slowly stood up, trying not to make a sound. He had been waiting for that American reporter to go to sleep for what felt like days. Now he could report to Hungan. The man stepped out of the cave and headed into the wilderness while David blinked a few times, trying to keep himself awake. No, he couldn't fall asleep; he just couldn't.
Laying down really wasn't helping him out either. What a horrible idea that was. David fussed as he sat up, "Cyni?" He murmured, looking towards the cave entrance. The tour guide was missing. His eyebrows narrowed. The photographer stood up and headed towards the entrance. Sure, he was just going to ask the tour guide if they still had any water, but now that he was gone, he was a bit curious. David took a couple of steps outside where he heard some ruffling coming from nearby bushes.
N'Dare shifted in her sleep as her eyes fluttered opened. The small fire was barely still flaring, not really allowing her eyes to properly focus, but she could still see that David was missing from her side. She remembered him stating that he would not sleep; he didn't want her in any type of danger. She fell asleep with him next to her.
The young woman hovered into the air, allowing herself to stand up straight on her feet. There really wasn't enough currency in this small area to do anything with her powers; it made her feel a tad bit helpless. She always felt helpless when she couldn't proper summon her powers. It was the only way she knew how to really protect herself. However, it was pretty rare for the relentless weather witch to actually show fear. It was a weakness. She couldn't show weakness. No, the High Priestess couldn't show weakness. She wasn't that High Priestess anymore. She was being hunted, but she still couldn't show any of that weakness. She wasn't weak.
She instantly spotted David would was hunched over by a bush. What was he doing?
David's eyes were narrowed as he tried to pick out what Cyni was saying. He was speaking in another language; Swahili, no doubt. He couldn't make it out; Cyni was speaking so fast. When Cyni finished speaking, a new voice came to David's ears; a voice he didn't really want to hear at the moment: Hungan. David felt his stomach turn into tight knots as it did flip flops. This wasn't good. Cyni was working for Hungan, he was dead sure of it. Cyni had signed their death warrant. They had to get out of here.
N'Dare tilted her head slightly, "David?" She called out to him; big mistake.
Cyni instantly jerked around, hand gun ready and loaded, knowing that Hungan would want the weather witch dead. It no longer mattered whose hand delivered the final blow. David's eyes widen at the sight of the gun; he froze. It was fired; N'Dare collapsed onto her knees.
"'Excellent.'" Hungan smirked, still remaining hidden within the bushes as Cyni stepped out. David stood up and grabbed the tour guide's wrist, trying to free the gun from the man's hand.
"ROB!" David yelled at the top of his lungs. Hell, if that gun shot didn't wake him up, then they were doomed. "ROB!" He repeated, taking the gun out of Cyni's hand.
After hearing David yell out his name not once, but twice, Robert was up and out of the cave they had called a shelter for the last two hours, not really understanding what was going on. "Move! Now!" David barked as he shoved Cyni away, dashing towards N'Dare.
Hungan growled. No, this wasn't going to happen. They weren't going to escape. He grasp his spear tightly, holding it above his head. Rob swallowed the lump in his throat. Well, he was always complaining about not having enough adventure in his life, but this was just pushing it. He was a reporter, damnit. He never thought he would be faced in a situation like this. Rob made a quick lunge towards Hungan, reaching for the spear, only to fall short. Hungan kicked him in the side, causing him to gasp for air.
Even thought he really didn't accomplish in getting the spear away from Hungan's hand, it still gave David enough time to hoist N'Dare carefully onto his back. He was sure just how badly injured she was, but if he checked now, he was going to get very close with that spear. Rob quickly crawled away and pulled himself onto his feet, following David into the darkness.
Deep Within the Jungle
"David, what the hell happened?" Rob asked as the two of them tried their best to maneuver through the tall trees, bushes, and vines. "Swear to God, I thought I heard a gun go off!"
"You didn't image that, Rob." David replied. "A gun did go off: Cyni's. He shot N'Dare."
"Dear God." Rob mumbled. "David, put her down. We gotta check this out. Come on, the sun's coming up. No need to worry about the dark anymore." He pointed out. "We've been wandering around for hours."
He had a point. They had to take care of N'Dare. She had been quite for some time now. David came to a stop and carefully set N'Dare down on the soft dirt ground. He could feel the warm blood staining his shirt; he tried to ignore the sick feeling. N'Dare moaned; whined. David shook his head as he brushed away strands of sweaty hair from her pale face. Rob knelt down, frowning, as he pulled off his shirt, using it to clean out the wound carefully.
"Hey…" David cooed softly. "N'Dare… Can you hear me?" She winced as the cloth pressed against the open wound. He noticed that her skin felt extremely hot to the touch. She was running a fever, no doubt.
"It doesn't look that deep." Rob murmured. "She shouldn't be in too bad of shape, but we gotta get her out of here nonetheless."
"You're going to be alright, you hear me?" David continued. "You're going to be alright. I promise you… You're going to see New York." He whispered into her ear, kissing her cheek tenderly. "Just hang on a bit longer, alright?"
Rob gently covered the wound that was slightly above her hip and tied the shirt, "Get her back up on your back. We're heading back to that cave-"
"What?" David instantly questioned.
"Our supplies are back there, Dave." Rob replied. "We need them if we want to get out of here. I can get us to the boats from that stupid cave! We go up the river and towards the nearest town. N'Dare can be treated and then we can get the hell out of here."
Riverbank
It took them a while to get back to the cave and then to the riverbank itself. The sun was now high in the sky, had to be a bit past noon. The most they got back from the shelter was just a sleeping bag and a container of water. It probably wouldn't last them long, but they had to try anyways. David made sure N'Dare was comfortable in the small boat, wrapping up with the sleeping bag before Rob and he paddled away. It was amazing that Hungan or his men hadn't spotted them by now. Surely they were still searching.
"We should be near the city by nightfall at least." Robert said after a couple of minutes of rowing. "Someone should be at the pier. They'll notice us and we'll be on our way."
"Cyni was the only man on that pier who could speak English." David stated bitterly. "No one's going to understand us."
"Then when we get there, we'll just point at N'Dare wounds and say 'help' over and over again until they get the damn picture." Rob answered. "Heck, if they see blood, they'll get the picture. These people aren't dense."
David nodded, "Yeah. Sorry… I'm a bit… uhh… tensed."
"Some vacation, eh?" Rob smirked lightly.
"I never want to take a vacation after this ever in my life." David stated. "I'd rather take the crappiest photo job ever then travel outside of the city limits again. Especially with you."
"Dave, I'm hurt." Rob pined, chuckling lightly under his breath before gazing down at the resting beauty. "You really think this is the one, huh?"
"I don't care that I've only know her for a couple of days, alright?" David retorted. "We barely have properly talked with each other either for that matter, but she claims that she was guided to me by the 'Goddess;' I was brought here for a reason." He shrugged his shoulders. "She just… amazing; breath taking. More of a woman Kendra would ever be."
"Do you have any idea how you're going to get Kendra out of the picture?" Rob asked, knowing the answer to this should be rather interesting. Kendra was, indeed, a pretty scary woman to piss off. Breaking up with her randomly would definitely upset her. He knew David would probably want another few rounds with Hungan then to face Kendra back home.
"Nope… Not really sure yet." David replied. "I think I'm just going to call and tell her bluntly. Then I'll change my name and move out of the state." He joked and then cleared his throat. "Naw. I'm going to have to tell her face-to-face. She won't be too happy, but I'm not really happy being with her."
"True…" Rob murmured as he paddled. "I've seen the way you've been acting around N'Dare. I think you found something special there, buddy."
David smiled, "I'm going to purpose to her, you know. Going to skip the whole dating process and go right into the whole marriage deal."
"Rushing things a bit, aren't you?" Rob remarked. "You're in your late twenty's, you shouldn't be hurrying along! Get married now and you'll be having kids right around the corner, you know."
"Shut up and paddle…" David mumbled under his breath.
"I'm serious, man." Rob went on. "I bet you anything you are just waiting to do her."
"Robert."
"I'm just saying…" He added before falling silent; rather interested in paddling all of a sudden.
"We hadn't had anything to eat in a while…" David said, changing the subject.
Rob looked up once again and nodded, "Yeah, you can say that again." He agreed. "But I'm not going to go off and eat something wild from the jungle, no thanks. We know close to nothing about survival and I want to make it home alive."
"Yeah, I know what you mean…" David murmured his reply. "Do you think we can last the whole day without any food?"
"If we use the water sparingly, then I think we'll be alright." Rob answered. "We'll be hungry, but we'll be alright."
N'Dare shifted lightly, trying hard not to fall asleep, which proved to be difficult; she kept zoning in and out on occasion. She was concerned for their safety. It was the first time David and Rob had been alone traveling in the jungle before. Of course, she had done it plenty of times, but she felt so helpless now that she was injured. The pain had gone numb, but it was still throbbing slightly. "The jungle heat… will leave you craving… for water." It even hurt to speak barely above a whisper. Had it been in different condition, she would have easily kept them cool, but she couldn't like this. They were all going to suffer the high temperatures this jungle had to offer.
"We'll get through this…" David said softly. "Somehow… Just don't worry."
Pier
Thank God the sun had set. Hell, it was an understatement when N'Dare told them they would be craving water. They were drenched in sweat; their shirts were stuck on their backs. Their muscles unbelievably ached from the constant rowing. Sure, every once in a while N'Dare tried to guide them along with a small gust of wind, but there was only so much she could do. For the most part, they had to row up the river.
David had never felt so tired in his whole entire life. This had been the ultimate workout ever. Then again, he shouldn't be complaining. N'Dare had been bundled up in the sleeping bag nearly the whole length of the journey and she didn't say one word. It grew harder and harder to breath. The air was still so icky; so hot.
He didn't remember what exactly happened next. Everything was growing dark and out of place.
To Be Continued