"Is it true?" she asked with a look of hurt in her eyes "What your brother said before he left, is it true?".
Victor broke eye contact, the look she was giving him was too much, there was too much hurt in her eyes and he couldn't look at her when she was on the edge of crying, not when he was the one who'd caused it.
"Yes" he replied quietly "It's true".
She inhaled deeply and swallowed hard. She didn't know where to look for a moment. How could she have been so blind? Or did she just not want to see it? Was she nothing more than a factory for breeding? Had Victor not at all thought about the consequences for the innocent child he tried to create with her?.
"Listen, Aria-" he got up as he tried to explain "At first, I didn't think about it. I found out you existed and this plan just came up. I was bored, looking for a thrill. But I never expected to-" he didn't really know how to say this "I didn't think I'd care about ya".
He didn't feel comfortable at all telling her this, but he had to convince her somehow. And it drove him crazy that the hurt in her eyes was his doing. He had never seen her this way and he hated it.
He moved closer but she backed away from him, raising her hands to keep him at a distance "It's fine. You don't owe me anything Victor" she said shakily "I should not have been so stupid. I should not have let my guard down" she scoffed with cynical laughter "This is what you got me for right? To make feral mutant babies with. I've always known what my place was. This is what you got me for, I just didn't fully understand at first, but it's fine, really".
But it was anything but fine. He could hear it in her voice, he could smell it by her scents.
"It's not like that Aria" Victor moved towards her again "At first, yes, it was like that but not anymore".
She held her hands up again "You don't have to answer to me Victor. I'm just your possession. You were going to pay five million dollars for me so I should've remembered my place really" betrayal and hurt resounded in her voice.
He breathed heavily, getting more desperate with the minute "You are not my possession" he grumbled lowly.
She shook her head and swallowed her tears away. She had only cried once before. And this would not be the second time. He would not see her cry.
She took a deep breath and looked at him sharply "I just need you to tell me one thing" she spoke dangerously as she put one hand on her stomach "Is there a baby inside me right now? Am I pregnant?".
He waited what seemed like forever until he answered her. He just stared at her "Yes" he finally said "Our cub is inside you".
She gasped in shock, automatically bringing her hand to her mouth. She never even noticed that she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. This was unbelievable, even for him. How could he have kept this from her and how could he have done this to her in the first place, and to an innocent baby? She had been so stupid. She had let her guard down around Victor, she had allowed him to make her feel safe. And she had felt so safe.
Aria leaned against the door and shook her head, she was feeling dizzy and her stomach was turning.
"I'm gonna throw up" was all she said before she ran towards the bathroom door, opened it and fell on her knees next to the toilet.
He didn't know what to say to make this better. To fix it. He had never been in this kind of situation.
Victor followed her into the bathroom, kneeled down next to her and carefully removed the hairs from her face, holding it back while she emptied her stomach into the toilet.
When Aria was done throwing up, she meekly used her right arm to push him away from her "Please, don't" she hissed softly. She sat back on the floor and leaned her head against the wall.
He handed her a towel. She ripped it from his hands and cleaned her face and mouth with it. He still said nothing while she slowly got off the floor and walked to the sink. She rinsed her mouth and washed her face.
She wouldn't even look at Victor as she walked passed him "I need some air" she simply said before walking out of the bedroom.
He stared at the floor "Take your coat, it's cold" was all he managed to say.
She walked on the boulevard while the sun was setting, across the beach where she and Victor had been weeks ago. When he wanted to know how fast she was and they had raced each other along the beach. She won and he'd been in a foul mood after that. But once they were home and she made a few silly jokes, he relaxed again.
Aria looked to the right, the little steak house they had had dinner only two weeks ago. Her stomach graved food a little. She placed a hand over her abdomen. There was a tiny someone in there now. And no matter what Victor Creed had done, this baby was an innocent so she wouldn't let it starve.
She entered the restaurant and took a seat in the back.
"Ah, misses Creed, how lovely to see you again" it was Benjamin, the same waiter who helped them last time. Victor was also a regular here, because Cora wasn't always around to cook for him. And hell would freeze over before he'd start cooking his own food.
She forced herself to smile "Hello Benjamin. Good to see you also".
He seemed a little puzzled "Are you alone? Victor is not with you?".
"Just me tonight Benjamin".
"Oh, well" he said as he handed her the menu "I hope everything is alright".
She sighed and looked at him "No, everything is not alright. I'll have a tea please".
The man looked genuinely sad to hear this, he knew Victor a little bit because he came here so often. He wasn't a man of many words and was often grumpy. But this woman seemed to do him a world of good.
"I'll get you your tea miss".
Aria ordered a salad and steak. She had a very hard time getting it all down but she knew she needed to eat. Her stomach had been growling and being hungry while pregnant was probably a bad combination.
And being pregnant was all she could think about while she ate. How could Victor have done this to her? Or maybe she wasn't surprised that he'd done it to her, because like she told him: she was just his possession, for him to do with as he pleased. But did he ever think about the baby? There was a fucking baby coming. And it was theirs. They were going to have to raise an actual baby. She knew nothing about raising children. She had no parents and she knew Victor's parents were just a poor example of how to treat your child. Now this child was an innocent victim to Victor Creed's fickleness.
She'd often felt sorry about Victor's childhood. The way his parents had cast him off and treated him like a freak. In her eyes he was a gifted and beautiful man. So she had no clue how his parents could not have seen that. So how on earth would two people with their backgrounds be fit to raise a child?
She sighed and rubbed her stomach again, she didn't even know how far along she was. It couldn't be far, her stomach was still flat. She heard somewhere that she might not be showing until around four or five months. She hadn't even been with Victor for that long. She started calculating, she'd been with him for almost three months now.
When Aria finished her dinner, she decided to go back home. She could hardly stay out all night. Besides, it was her house also.
"Aria, talk to me" he said gruffly as she walked past him.
"I'm going to sleep in the guest room tonight" was all she said as she walked passed him.
But he stopped her and grabbed her arm "No you're not! You're sleeping with me and you will talk to me".
Her head snapped up, her eyes were blazing with fire "Don't touch me Victor Creed" she hissed as she bared her pointy teeth at him "And don't you dare tell me what to do after what you have done to me".
She yanked her arm loose and tried to continue her stroll towards one of the guest rooms. But he followed her and blocked her way. "I'm talking to you Aria!".
That was the last straw for her, she pushed him out of her way but his huge body would hardly give "Get out of my way Victor, I'm going to sleep. We can talk tomorrow".
"We are talking now!" he roared as he grabbed her arms again.
The feral inside her awoke and in one swift move, Aria extended her nails and attacked his face, leaving a deep bloody mark which quickly healed. Without even thinking about it, both her hands reached forward as she impaled his chest with her sharp talons. Adrenaline rushed through her body as she threw him to the end of the hallway.
Victor was so amazed, it took him two seconds to realize what had just happened. She had attacked him. And something stopped him from attacking her back, the fact that she was pregnant with their cub. He rubbed his head as he looked up at her, he had never seen her like this. Pure anger looking down on him.
She said nothing as she walked towards him, opened the door to her right and slammed it shut behind her. He groaned, it was his own fucking fault. It was probably best if he would let her sleep there so they could talk about it in the morning. He leaned his head back and sighed. How the fuck could he ever make this right?
When Aria came out of her room the next morning, she found Victor in front of her door. He looked at her bewildered as he got up from the floor. Obviously he had been lying there the entire night because he looked like shit. It changed nothing, she decided.
"How did you envision this Victor?" was the first thing she asked him.
He groaned a little and rubbed his head " I just-" he stumbled over his words for a bit "I just figured we would be parents. And it would work out".
She shook her head in disbelief "How on earth can people like you and me be parents?".
He growled "What's that supposed to mean?".
"I have no parents and I've been locked away for half of my life. And then you. Your parents were-" she also couldn't find the right words "I don't even have words for what your parents were. But definitely not a sweet example. How on earth are we going to raise an actual child without ever having witnessed how it's supposed to be done? How could you do this to an innocent baby Victor?".
"We will do everything better than them!" he raised his voice in frustration "We will do everything that they didn't do and we will leave out all that they did. We can be better Aria" he tried hard to convince her.
She wanted to tell him it wasn't that easy, but the bell rang, someone was at the gates. Aria walked over to the double doors as Victor looked through the window to see who it was.
"You called them?!" he scoffed in disbelief as he stared through the glass and saw the X-Jet in front of his gates.
Aria looked him straight in the eyes "I didn't know who else to call Victor. I have no one!".
"You have me and you are not leaving me!".
"If it was just me Victor, I would stay. But it's not just me" she opened the big double doors "I am leaving you. For the sake of this baby".
He followed her, yanking her arm roughly, fire blazing in his eyes "You are not leaving me Aria! And you are not taking my cub!".
She sighed, fighting back her tears by now. As much as she wanted to act tough right now, this was the hardest thing she ever had to do so far.
"Fine" she said "You can raise the baby. But I won't be here for it. I am not your possession anymore Victor. I will bring it to you once it's born".
She knew she would never actually do that. She just had to get away from here right now.
Desperately, and without knowing what else to do, he dropped to his knees and grabbed her little waist with both his hands as he pressed his face into her. "Aria-" he gasped "Tell me what to do. Anything" his voice was gruff "Tell me what to do and I'll do it. Just-" he was fighting to find the right words, his head pressed into her stomach as if he was also speaking to his cub "Just don't go".
Her tears ran freely over her face by now, she looked to the left. Behind the gate they were waiting for her; professor Xavier and Hank McCoy. Logan was already making his way up to the house.
She looked down at Victor, still clasping onto her in one last desperate attempt to keep her with him. She knew she had to be strong. If not for herself, then at least for her baby. Aria placed both her small hands on his bigger hands which were still holding onto her waist.
She took a deep breathe "I am a free and independent human being. With a will of my own. Which I now exert to leave you".
On that note, she pushed his hands off her, turned around and walked away from him.
Leaving Victor behind on the ground, desperately staring at the place where she 'd just been standing.
AN: I was afraid I may have pulled Creed from his character a little when I made him drop to his knees and beg. But I saw the latest Jane Eyre movie with Michael Fassbender and I could just imagine Victor doing that when all else fails. I hope you agree with me and if not, then sorry! xD