Empathy's Echo
Chapter 7
by
NYC
Disclaimer: All X-men and X-villians are Marvel's characters. Please don't sue me.
"If You're Gone," ~ by Matchbox 20
I think I've already lost you/ I think you're already gone
I think I'm finally scared now/ you think I'm weak, I think you're wrong
I think you're already leaving/ feels like your hand is on the door
I thought this place was an empire/ but now I'm relaxed, I can't be sure
I think you're so mean, I think we should try/ I think I could need this in my life
I think I'm just scared, I think too much/ I know this is wrong, it's a problem, I'm
dealing
If you're gone/ maybe it's time to go home
There's an awful lot of breathing room/ but I can hardly move
If you're gone/ baby you need to come home
'Cause there's a little bit of something me/ in everything in you
I bet you're hard to get over/ I bet the room just won't shine
I bet my hands I can stay here/ I bet you need more than you mind.
I think you're so mean/ I think we should try/ I think I could need this in my life
I think I'm just scared that I know too much/ I can't relate and that's a problem I'm
feeling
If you're gone/ maybe it's time to go home
There's an awful lot of breathing room/ but I can hardly move
If you're gone/ baby you need to come home
'Cause there's a little bit of something me/ in everything in you
I think you're so mean. I think we should try/ I think I could need this in my life
I think I'm just scared. Do I talk too much?/ I know it's wrong, it's a problem, I'm
dealing
If you're gone/ maybe it's time to go home
There's an awful lot of breathing room/ but I can hardly move
If you're gone/ baby you need to come home
'Cause there's a little bit of something me/ in everything in you
Something me...in you.
"Full of Grace," ~ by Sarah MacLaughlin
The winter here's cold and bitter/ It chills us to the bone
We haven't seen the sun for weeks/ To long, to far from home
It feels just like I'm sinking/ and I claw for solid ground.
I'm pulled down by the undertow/ I never thought I could feel so low
And in all this darkness I feel like letting go.
If all of the strength/ all of the courage/ come and lift me from this place,
I know I could love you much better than this. /Full of Grace, full of grace, my love.
It's better this way, I say/ Haven't seen this place before
Where everything we say and do/ Hurts us all the more.
It's just that we stay too long/ In the same old sickly skin
I'm pulled down by the undertow/ I never thought I could feel so low
In all this darkness I feel like letting go.
If all of the strength, all of the courage/ come and lift me from this place
I know I could love you much better than this, full of grace....
I know I can love you much better than this.
It's better this way.
"Somethin' happened."
He said in such a soft voice, for a moment no one heard him. He was sitting in his usual seat, with Jean beside him and Ororo in front of him, Scott at the helm.
Rogue leaned up from behind. Beside her, Bobby fidgeted in his seat. "What did you say, Logan?" she asked.
"I said, something happened to her." He did not look at Rogue, merely stared out the two front windows of the X-Jet.
"The coordinates we have aren't exact," Scott said. "Maybe you could--"
"There," Logan said, raising one black-gloved hand and pointing out on Scott's far left. There was just a speck on the horizon. "That way. That's the tower."
There was a silence as Scott adjusted the controls of the X-Jet, Ororo provided some cover, and Jean attempted to cloak any presence that might give them away. Logan gave her a sideglance.
"It won't do ya any good," he muttered at her.
"Logan," Rogue pressed, "what--"
"Codenames now," Cyclops said, with that calm leadership he had that was so different from the irritating arrogance he could sometimes show when he wasn't at the head of the team. "Wolverine, are you saying that Magneto is already alerted to our presence?"
"I don't know about Helmet Head," Logan said, "but Mel knows we're here. And I ain't got a single clue as to what she's gonna do about it."
They landed in the water a good half mile away from the tower. It looked more like a huge rock that had somehow extended itself over the surface of the sea--probably due to Magneto's influence. Storm took some readings and they revealed that the compound was entirely metal on the outside, and mostly metal and hewn rock within. The rocks all seem to have large quantities of metal in their composition.
After some debate, Storm and Iceman, as Bobby had decided to call himself, were elected to stay with the X-Jet and act as back-up, should the need arrive. Cyclops did not think it wise to send out all the troops at once, and wanted a second unit. He ordered Jean--who had never picked a codename, although she leaned toward Phoenix--to stick close to Wolverine, and for Rogue to stay close to him. They had a small transport sub, barely big enough for four people, and they used it to enter the fortress from under the water, convinced that there would be some sort of back entrance.
Carefully, the four of them entered the fortress, only to find it supremely quiet. Wolverine did not care for it one bit, but he was not about to abort this mission, no matter what One-Eye thought. To his surprise, Cyclops ordered them forward.
They hadn't gotten twenty feet down the first corridor when Wolverine heard a low rumbling. He looked down at his feet, and realized that Rogue was standing over what looked like a great crack in the floor--a crack that was a little too smooth--
"Look out!" he growled, pushing her back into Jean and Cyclops. From the crack came a sliding wall. It reached up to the upper arch of the hall and sealed itself in place.
It looked like it was made of glass.
Logan looked back at the startled trio as they observed the strange apparition. If Magneto thought that glass could hold him, he was out of his mind. Logan extended his claws and let them cut through--
Only to have the glass instantly turn into a thick, jelly-like substance, as tough as the strongest glue and impossible to cut. Logan pulled his claws back and barely managed to suck them out of the goo.
*Logan?* It was Jean. *Are you all right?*
*Dandy, darlin',* he replied. "Can you hear me?"
Cyclops and Rogue came closer, their eyes on him. Cyclops nodded.
"Looks like whoever's runnin' the show just wanted me," he said with a humorless chuckle.
Cyclops reached out and touched Jean's shoulder. Logan heard the leader's words through her head. *Let's stay on a telepathic link, though, just in case.*
*Fine,* Logan replied. *If they want me. I'll go. You guys head back.*
*No way.* That was Rogue. He smiled at her. He had always liked her spunk.
*Then maybe you oughta find out where everyone is,* Logan continued. *I'll find Mel and we'll get back to the X-Jet.*
*All right,* Cyclops agreed. *But Jean's going to use a psi-link to keep us all connected so you can let us know as soon as you find her. Or we can tell you if we find her first.*
Logan nodded his assent and gave them a little salute before he headed off down the corridor, alone.
He didn't know how long he walked. It couldn't have been long at all. Maybe ten minutes worth, and how long could this thing be, anyway? But it had had a lot of twists and turns, and Logan suspected he'd been going in a partial circle.
Then, suddenly, he heard a sobbing. It was soft, like air echoing off the rock. Poor acoustics, he realized, for such a place. Everything felt so narrow, but the sound was picking up more and more clearly the father along he moved.
There was a great, gaping hole off to one side. It looked like some sort of holding cell, but it didn't have any bars or anything that would attempt to hold something inside of it. Logan would have investigated the frame of those wide, stone openings, except for the fact that there was a figure huddled in the chamber's core. A figure dressed in a familiar coat, jeans and T-shirt, which looked like they'd been ripped and torn by a savage beast. The figure had familiar hair that hung down her back and around her limbs in all its multi-toned glory.
"Mel?" he whispered, then hesitated. After all, Mystique was a shape shifter, and she had tired to get him before. And wouldn't it be perfect if she was just trying to lure him into a trap?
She looked up at him. Her eyes were rimmed with bright red circles, the under part of her lids almost brown from the tears. "L...Lo...Logan?" she managed, her voice broken, shuddering with hiccups from the crying. "Is that you?"
Slowly, hesitantly, he stepped through the archway and into the chamber, keeping his sense open and alert. He took a deep drag of air, drawing in her scent. He knew Mystique's sent...
Melody's muskiness came floating back to him. It had been the first thing he'd ever experienced of her, even before he'd seen her. It had been the thing to draw him back from fifteen years of muddled amnesia and flashback nightmares. There was no way that Mystique could duplicate that scent, not as exactly as it was coming across now. He quickened his pace and closer the distance between them. She pulled herself up onto her knees and latched her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest, her sobs deepening.
"Hey, hey," he cooed, stroking her hair, holding her as close to him as he could dare, considering his only real thought was getting her the hell out of there. "You're okay, Mel. I'm here. I swear I'm not gonna let them hurt you anymore."
She started babbling. It sounded like his name but it was broken. Whatever they had done to her, it had traumatized her greatly. Anger made the back of his neck turn red-hot and his whiskers stand straight up on end. He had to keep himself from clenching his fists because it would make his claws pop out, the way he was feeling right now. Those bastards were going to pay--
He got her by her shoulders and pulled her up closer to him, wanting to cradle her in his arms, do whatever he had to to make her calm down, to feel better. But as he got a look at her face, he realized that for all her sobbing, all her bloodshot eyes and dark circles, not a single tear lay upon her cheek.
He pushed her hair back, wanting to check her over, make sure she wasn't bodily harmed, but he didn't smell any blood, didn't sense any injuries. He wanted to ask her why she had tried to remove their bond before, because it still ached from her attempt and he couldn't get much more from her than a dull pain in the back of his head. That and anger. She was angry.
More angry, he realized, than she had probably ever been in her life.
"Come on, Mel," he said, even as she pressed herself to his chest again, hiding her face from him. "We need to get you back to the school, have Jean look at you--"
Her head shot up and her eyes glittered. "Dr. Grey," she spat. "Is that all you can think about?"
Surprise froze his features into a comical look of shock. Not this again, he thought. But maybe she had endured a head injury. Maybe that was why everything felt so strange about her. Maybe that was why the bond between them was feeling so off at this moment.
Her face crumpled. "Logan," she said, her voice low, filled with tears, "I knew you'd come for me. Don't mention her, please...I just want to be with you...please...just let me be with you..."
She lowered her face and buried it in his neck, her breath hot on his skin. Her fingers went to the zipper on his uniform, pulling it down just enough to give her access. She ran her lips across the chords of his throat, kissing, nibbling slightly. Logan shut his eyes, temporarily blinded by the lovely feelings this contradiction of a woman was causing him. Then her tongue slid out and traveled along the line of his jaw, stopping just under his chin, and her teeth came up and scraped along the bone underneath.
He growled, deep in the back of his throat, and when she pulled away he dared himself to look her in the face. Her eyes said more than any words.
"Here?" he managed, although his voice wouldn't cooperate with him. "After everything..."
"Shut up," she said, and pulling more on the zipper, revealing the rippling muscles of his chest. She bent her head and her mouth found one of his nipples, drawing it into her mouth.
Logan's eyes widened. She was serious. But something was wrong...this was not like her. If she had suffered from a head injury, it was making her act not like herself. Steeling his passions, he gripped her forearms and pulled her up to face him, putting a few inches of air between them.
"What?" she asked, her lips red and moist. She leaned closer to him, but she did not breathe out. He leaned closer to her, flaring his nostrils.
Dammit, it smelled like her! What the hell was going on? Finally, he realized that there was one thing he hadn't tested yet. He pulled her in, his mouth centering on hers.
She swayed her head to one side, giving him a mysterious and mischievous smile. "Uh uh," she teased, putting up a finger. "Not yet."
He reached out and gripped her by her chin, his fingers and thumb pressing into her cheeks. He let go of her shoulders and got his other hand on the back of her head. "Yes, yet," he said, and pulled her in with more force than he would have ever dared otherwise.
She let out an outraged sound as his mouth closed on hers.
There it was.
Her taste.
This wasn't Melody.
She pulled back--he let her go, giving her a contemptuous shove--and her expression turned furious as she realized that this part of the game was over. She leapt backwards, onto her feet in a single, sweeping move, and landed a solid punch right to his jaw.
Logan caught himself with one fist against the stone floor and used the momentum to get his feet under him. But as he pulled himself to his full height, he realized that the shapeshifter was not about to give up what advantage she had left.
It was still Melody's face before him.
"Can you do it, Logan?" she taunted, backing away. "Can you fight her? Can you use your claws against the body of the woman you love?"
He glared at her, enraged by her mockery. "You're not Melody," he said, the loud *Snikt* of his claws extending echoing off the rounded walls. "I'll do what I have to do."
She smiled at him. It was not a nice smile. "I'll bet," she said, but before he could react she thrust forward with one foot and got him square in the chest.
Logan hit the back wall, the wind going out of him. He staggered forward, getting his bearings back, but she was more agile than he was. She flipped backward, her feet just clearing the ridge of stone that made this place look like a holding cell without bars. Then, she pressed something camouflaged within the rock, and instantly, there was a barrier between them
For a moment, Logan hesitated, wondering how he could have missed it. There were no cracks in the floor or ceiling that indicated any way to generate a forcefield. But as he watched, he realized that the substance locking him into the room was like a thick, flowing liquid, like rubber cement. It spread itself across the opening and webbed out into the room, creating a firm seal. The other opening followed suit a second later. Logan approached it as it hardened.
It looked like glass, at least three inches thick. But if they thought this could hold him, they were nuts. There wasn't any substance on this earth tougher than adamantium, and he had it in spades.
He thrust his claws into the hard surface, but the second he penetrated it, it liquefied again. The sticky goo tangled around the blades, around his fingers, and no matter how much Logan tried to cut through it, it would not give way. Finally, he yanked his hand back in, and only succeeded in freeing it from the gluey substance by stretching it a good five feet back.
It was the same crap from the hallway, he realized.
Mystique laughed at him, still in Melody's body. He glared at her, seething in rage.
"Please, try again," she said with mock graciousness. "And again, and again. It's quite entertaining. But it won't change anything. You're staying here. Magneto didn't want you distracting our latest acquisition."
"Lying bitch," he spat, coming closer to the glass, for the glue-like surface had rehardened again. "You hurt her, and I swear I don't care if it takes me a year to dig through this rock--"
She shrugged. "Liar, liar pants on fire," she returned. "We haven't done a thing to your precious girlfriend. She's done it all on her own."
"Don't play with me. If a single hair on her head--"
"Oh, do shut up, Logan," came a soft voice from beside Mystique. The woman smiled as she finally let her shape melt back into her blue skin and flaming red hair--but that was when Logan realized why she had smelled like Melody.
Her clothes did not change. They were the ones Melody had been wearing when she was taken. And Melody appeared beside her, dressed in a sleek black catsuit--
At least, he thought that was Melody.
"What?" he whispered, not believing his senses, but this time, he knew it was for real.
"I'm sorry, Logan," she said, the cruel smile on her face belying her words. "I didn't want to have to hurt you. Or maybe better put, I didn't want you to have to hurt me."
He stared at her, not believing that it was her, but unable to deny what his mind told him was true. Mystique had gotten him with her clothing, but this woman--there was no reason for her to pretend to be Melody.
She looked so different. Her body had changed, and it was much more muscular, sleek and rippling underneath the dark fabric. Her hair had turned into a bright gold, like a lion's mane, and it ran unchecked about her shoulders, wild and free. Her eyes, blue like sapphires, glittered.
With hate.
There was a terrible, feral rage inside of her. She looked like some female counterpart to Sabertooth, but that was impossible. Her powers didn't allow for that--did they?
Her smile faded away, but the cruelty remained. "What are you looking at?" she snapped.
He shook his head. "Melody...this isn't you--"
She hurled herself at his glass-like barrier, raising one fist in the air as if to punch it through. "Don't you tell me what's me and what's not!" she screamed. "I'm tired of everyone telling me what to do! No one knows me! Especially not you!"
Her fist did make contact on that last word, and it caused the barrier to vibrate lightly, liquefying just a bit where she hit it. She bared her teeth at him, and it almost looked like she had fangs.
Mystique chuckled. The blue-skinned witch was enjoying every second of this. "Not right now, Echo. There's other work to be done, first. One down, five more to go."
Melody turned her back to Logan and nodded. "Nice job, by the way," she said, but her voice was so hard, cold, hateful. "Although you didn't have to enjoy it so much." And she left the room, her hair snapping and streaking out behind her like a comet's tail.
Jean was scanning the area of signs of activity, but she was coming up with nothing. Just like all the corridors that had wound and twisted around them, leading them in every single direction but a clear one. Only now--after being in this place for entirely too long to feel safe, the tension building to a fever pitch--were they getting anywhere that looked important.
The chamber was huge. In the center was a raised table, with a metal arch over it, segmenting it off from the rest of the room like an island. On the table, five balls licked back and forth, two one way, then two the other way, the middle ball never moving.
"He's close," Rogue whispered.
"How do you know?" Jean asked. "I'm not getting anything."
"You won't, not with that helmet of his," Scott said. "Rogue, what are you getting?"
"After being in that machine of his," Rogue said, "I've been able to sense levels of magnetic energy. He's hiding from us. It's not him who's gonna--"
The word "attack" came to the tip of Rogue's tongue and died there as she was suddenly thrust forward from behind. She flipped up and onto the table, crashing into the metal balls and sending them flying. She slid along the slick surface, and while it slowed her fall a bit, it did not stop it. She went all the way across and toppled over the edge, landing in a heap, the wind knocked from her.
"Rogue!" Scott said, but it was too late for him as well. He looked up and it suddenly felt like there were two hands on his visor, trying to yank it off. He reached up and seized it, trying to keep his visor on, but the hands were insistent and he tried to twist himself out of their grip by moving across the floor.
The hands moved with him.
He wanted to close his eyes. For some reason, they wouldn't shut.
"Scott!" Jean screamed, watching him suddenly gasp and reach up to grab his visor, dancing a desperate dance across the wide floor with an invisible partner. As she reached out to touch him, it seemed that the fabric of his uniform came off in her hand, and she pulled it back to see it covered with thick, green slime.
It slithered along her arm and up onto her face, sealing across her mouth. Jean tried to scream, but it was muffled in her own ears. She reached up, trying to tear it off, and felt only her own skin.
With horror, she realized that it was an illusion. Then why couldn't she breathe? She shut her eyes and focused hard, using all her telepathic might to banish the image from her mind, but then she heard a thump.
She opened her eyes and saw a woman with wild golden hair standing right in front of her.
"G'night, Gracie," she said.
Two seconds too late, as a foot came up and hit Jean hard in the chest, sending her backward and into the wall where her head made contact with solid rock, she realized the awful truth.
It was Melody.
Rogue pulled off her glove. She thought it would be enough to defend herself. As she heard someone leap up onto the table and walk across it, right over to her, she got her feet under her, reading to leap.
The person appeared. Sleek, leather-clad, muscular. With very familiar eyes--
"Mel?" Rogue whispered, the nausea settling over her as the implications hit home. "But...but why?"
Melody crouched down and looked right into Rogue's green eyes. Rogue looked back, searching for the woman she knew, thinking that this had to be a trick, an illusion cast by Magneto's latest weapon, but--
"Rogue," Melody said, her voice a low, rumbling growl, "you should run."
Rogue felt a horrible fear in her stomach. She was so afraid...they were going to get her...so afraid she couldn't lie there, she had to run...
And then an image came back into her mind, one of Mystique wearing Bobby's face, telling her that she was in trouble, that she was dangerous, that---
*You should run.*
In a hot-tempered flash of rage, Rogue leapt forward, clamping her bared hand over Melody's cheek.
Melody shrieked.
Rogue's mind filled with images. A flash, like a camera going off in a dark room. They leapt into the back of Rogue's head, a negative to be seen later.
A blast of energy hit her square in the back of the head. The darkroom filled her being, leaving nothing else in its wake.
Melody glared down at Rogue's unconscious form, then up at Gambit. "You didn't have to do that," she snarled, even as she had to grip the edge of the table, hard to keep her balance in her weakened state from Rogue's touch. "I had it!"
"I am sure, petite," he said. "And you are welcome." He strode into the room, a familiar cloaked figure on his heels.
Magneto coolly observed Scott still dancing around with the invisible hands trying to wrench off his visor. He gave a little smile.
"How amusing," he said aloud. "Perhaps, maybe, we should put him out of his misery." He lifted a hand and some metal bars came off the arch and swung around to wrap themselves around Scott, locking him to the rocky wall, and then another band came around and enclosed about his head.
Mystique came in from the opposite side of the room. "Did I miss the fun?" she asked, sounding like a hopeful child.
Melody gave her a good glare. "I told you to leave Logan alone."
The shapeshifter smiled. "Oh, but I was having so much fun, watching him despair over you. The fact that you've betrayed them seems to have broken him more effectively than anything Magneto could have done."
"We shall see about that." Magneto came farther into the room. "Well, Melody, it goes to show how much they care about you, this little foursome--they sent an inexperienced child to do the job of an adult."
Gambit came over to Rogue and laid his hand on her back.
"Careful," Melody said, rubbing her cheek as her ability to stand on her own finally returned. "She can absorb powers."
"Ah," Gambit said, casting Melody a quick glance. Her hair had darkened a bit upon Rogue's flesh-to-flesh contact. He looked back to Rogue, and with his gloves on, he flipped her over.
And was instantly captivated.
She was young, younger than he could believe. Was Magneto right? Did the boasted X- Men care so little for one of their own that they would send a creature as delicate as this after her? Although there was one strange thing about her--her dark hair had a silvery-white streak running down the center of her widow's peak. It was a remarkable detail that made her all the more beautiful.
He pulled away after making sure that she was still breathing, and his eyes met Melody's again. There was a facet of amusement in those glittering sapphire gems.
"Love at first site, Remy?" she said, her voice a whispering growl, just loud enough for him to hear. "How perfectly old fashioned."'
He got to his feet. "I would have thought dat you of all people could relate," he returned, and then added, just for good measure, "*Melody.*"
She glared at him and turned away. "Don't call her that, Gambit," Magneto scolded. "Call her by her new name. Her Brotherhood name. Echo."
"Eh," Gambit said. "As in Echo of Sabertooth? What you gonna do when his power runs out, Echo?"
She gave him a good, solid look as she bent over Jean, reaching down to check for a pulse. "Then maybe I'll borrow yours."
He sneered at her. "Sorry, chere, I don't t'ink dat I'll be much good to you." He slid his eyes to Mystique. "But maybe de fanatic here would be willing--"
"Hush, both of you," Magneto said, turning his back on them to raise his hand and bring his great metal chair sliding over to him. He sat down, a few feet from Rogue. "Gambit, take this one and lock her up downstairs. But don't put her anywhere near that Wolverine."
"Uie, Magneto, sir," Gambit snarled. He reached down and got his arm under Rogue's knees and around her shoulders. "Come, mon petite, Gambit has to play Fed-X-Man..."
The beep filled the cabin. It was loud, piercing, and it made Bobby lose his precious balance on the edge of his seat.
"Alarm!" Ororo shouted, coming up to the control board. "It's coming from Jean's uniform. There must be trouble."
"Well," Bobby said, a bit slowly, "it is Magneto's fortress."
"We will leave at once. But we need to be undetected. I cannot fly--"
"Rest easy, Ms. Monroe," Bobby said, flashing her a smile. "They do call me Iceman for a reason." He motioned for her to follow him down to the lower level of the jet, where the ramp could extend into the sea. He lowered the plank and then stretched out his hand.
It took a minute or two, but the ice flow from his hand took a definite shape. It formed a cocoon like structure, with only a small opening.
"Shall we, Cinderella?" Bobby asked, offering his hand.
Storm gave him a small smile. "You will be able to control that thing?"
"I'm sure your wind powers will help greatly. And, unlike a pumpkin," he added wryly as he sealed the opening behind him, along with some precious oxygen inside, "this won't disappear at midnight."
Melody--or Echo, as Magneto insisted she be called--watched her new master with consternation. He had promised her that Rogue would not be harmed, and that Logan's fate would not be fatal, simply enough to keep him out of Magneto's way. But she knew that that would have to mean extended captivity.
So where did that leave Scott and Jean? Magneto had a nice quandary to ponder. He couldn't let Jean regain consciousness, for the second she did it was certain that the two of them would try to get free. Old tricks worked best--that was why Magneto had gone to the extra effort of keeping Scott's head locked up with his visor sealed shut.
She heard a hissing sound. Jean still lay on the floor, quiet and still, as if she were asleep. It was coming from Scott. There was a light coming from the back of his head.
"What are you doing?" the man howled.
Magneto smiled. "Making sure you remain helpless," the old man replied. Melody scowled.
"What *are* you doing, Magneto?" she pressed.
"Sealing his visor shut from behind, melting the metal disc control so he can't use it." Magneto gave her a patient look. "I don't make the same mistakes twice if I can ever avoid it."
She came closer to him, her prowl losing it's cat-like quality. "You don't," she said, her voice a low hum. "And what of Logan? Locking him up did no good before. What do you plan to do now?"
"He's quite safe where he is. That glass was designed for those just like him." Magneto's eyes flashed. "By someone who knew your lupine friend quite well."
"Who?" she snapped, her suspicion on all thrusters.
He waved his hand. "He prefers to remain nameless at the moment. I'm afraid I had to press him into service by threats and manipulations, something I'm not entirely proud of. But I think that once he sees the fine example you're setting, he will fall right in line." Magneto turned his eyes to Jean. "Perhaps we should ensure that even when she wakes up she won't be a threat."
"How? You going to kill her?"
Magneto looked up into Melody's glare. "I'll dismiss that on the knowledge I have of Sabertooth's rage powering your abilities," he said, but there was a warning in his voice. "I am many things, Melody, but torturing helpless people does not amuse me."
Her mouth twisted into a grim line. "You tried to torture Logan before."
"I was simply showing him that one cannot cross me without consequences. The injury I gave him has reminded him rather nicely ever since."
She raised an eyebrow. "Injury? But he's got a healing factor--"
"Indeed, which makes it all the better." There was, however, no amusement now in Magneto's voice. Erik looked back at her, concern in his face. "Did you not realize, the plate of adamantium I lifted from his spine? He hides his pain from you so well, doesn't he?"
She looked away, anger on her face. "He hides a lot of things from me," she said painfully.
"Yes, he does," Magneto agreed. "But you're safe now, among your own. Whatever happens to Logan is none of your concern anymore."
Her head snapped back to him. "What does that mean?"
He smiled at her, gently. "Always so suspicious of me, Melody?" His eyes darkened, just a touch. "What are you thinking?"
"Where's Sabertooth?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I imagine he's recovered--why don't you check for yourself? Just concentrate on him."
She pulled back and shut her eyes. She imagined Sabertooth's small enclave of a room, where he was sleeping off the dehabilitating effects of her drain on his emotions. He'd been as peaceful as a kitten for a while, but it wasn't going to last, he was pretty strong--
"He's awake," she said suddenly, her eyes snapping open. "And moving around." She paused, looking out the large archway where the X-Men had entered. To Magneto's eyes, it seemed that she was listening for something. "I'm going to go check on him," she declared.
"Who, Sabertooth--?"
"Logan."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Magneto said, rising. "You shouldn't--"
"*You* shouldn't," Melody shot over her shoulder as she continued her even step. Then, in the doorway, she stopped, turned, and gave Magneto a smile that chilled him.
"Act three is about to begin," she whispered. At that, the table came up right off of its roots and Magneto turned around in time to have it smack him full force, which sent him flying right into the wall above the back door. It made an eardrum-rattling crash.
Melody looked up as the crumpled metal gave in to gravity and fell, landing mere inches away from her. She did not even flinch.
"I was wondering when you were going to show up," she said as Storm appeared in the doorway. Magneto raised his head from the table that had tried to be his coffin. He looked at her in pure horror.
"You traitor!" he howled. But by then it was far, far too late.
Logan paced the cell. Mystique had tried to get his goat, but he wasn't going to bite. He just wanted to see Melody. To talk to her. He kept nagging at the bond in the back of his head, ignoring the pain, just reaching and reaching and reaching, calling with every part of himself to get her to come back, he had to look at her, look into her eyes and see for himself, otherwise he just couldn't believe it--
There was a silhouette in the doorway. She came in, her body straining underneath the tight fabric, the muscles rippling considerably less, and her hair no longer the burning, brilliant gold it had been before. It seemed to be darkening before his eyes.
She came into the light. She was crying.
"Mel," he called to her. He came to the glass, carefully pressing his palms against it, trying not to activate it.
The tears ran fast and thick down her face. She seemed dizzy, her step swaying a bit. Her physical appearance seemed to fluctuate and vibrate like a mirage. She stumbled as she reached the glass, leaning her whole side against it, attempting to contain herself.
"Logan," she sighed, pressing her head against the glass. He moved his hand so it was right across from it. He wished he could touch her hair.
"My God, Mel," he gasped. "You almost had me goin'--"
"I did have you going," she said, "because it was real." She looked at him, her eyes flooding and spilling and then filling again. "I was going to...I was with them. Something happened when I had to defend myself against Sabertooth. I felt his mind, all his primal instincts and his rage, and it was inside of me, and it was giving me strength and abilities I never knew I could have." She shook her head, looking down at her hands. "And I gave in. I gave into temptation. After all my bravado, all my resistance, after telling Magneto where he could stick his Brotherhood--and all of a sudden I was one of them!" She gasped and shuddered. "I can't...I can't believe I was manipulated so easily. That I have so little sense of myself. That I have so little control." She shook her head, wincing as if it were painful. "When Rogue touched me, she pulled some of that...rage...away, and I saw what I was doing. I saw it...I barely managed to keep them fooled long enough to send for help. Storm is upstairs, and Magneto is alone. But I don't know how long it'll be before he gets help, so you gotta go help them."
"And what about you?" he asked. "You have power, Melody. You may need to learn how to use it, maybe Magneto took advantage of you, but--"
"But, but, but!" she snapped, pulling away from the glass. "How long is going to be long enough, Logan? How many times are you going to be able to deal with me and my psychopathic SHIT!" She balled her hands into fists and beat on the glass, but it wasn't hard enough to turn it into is gluey form. "I'm a basketcase, Logan! I'm a threat to everything Xavier has worked so hard to build, and I'm a burden to everyone I know! Especially you!" She leaned her arm along the glass, resting her forehead on top of it. She looked at him, her eyes drained of that life, her hair now dark, her new powers gone. It was like looking into the face of a withdrawing drug addict.
"I can't anymore, Logan," she said, her voice exhausted, strained. "I can't do it anymore. I'm going to leave. Everyone will be safer. I did fine on my own before, I'll do fine again. But it's better this way."
"No!" he howled at her, pounding on the glass making it vibrate with the force. "Melody, don't you dare! You're not leaving, you're not walkin' away from this! Everybody has to fight, and that means you, too! Dammit, Mel---!"
But her eyes cut him off. She was serious. She had probably never been more serious in her life, had never faced anything as hard as this.
"I'm sorry, Logan," Melody said, pressing her hand against the glass. She could feel his pulse, even though the thickness, as he pressed his hand to it across from hers. "I hope one day you can forgive me."
He stood, speechless, as he watched her turn and run, but before she left him, she hit some release lever, and the world in front of him grew hazy and smoky, sparking with all sorts of live electric currents and brilliant colors. Eventually, the glass barrier melted, the goo withdrawing back into the recesses from which it came.
But it was too late.
She was gone.
Rogue snapped her head up and opened her eyes. A lingering memory drifted through the tip of her brain and then vanished, unnoticed. She blinked and tried to regain her bearings.
Why couldn't she move her arms?
"Are dey too tight?" asked a voice.
She turned her head a bit and saw a young man, a striking young man, standing not three feet away from her. Why hadn't she noticed him?
And now, why could she feel him? Good God, the conflict inside this person...even as those remarkable red and black eyes regarded her calmly, there was a storm a-brewin'. She swallowed several times, trying to straighten out her tangled synapses.
"What?" she managed to croak.
"I'm sorry about de shackles, but it cannot be helped," he said, motioning to her arms. Rogue looked down and saw that she was sitting on the floor, her arms raised but hanging limply, fasted in strong metal shackles.
She'd been here before.
Her fists clenched.
"Are you sure?" she asked, looking up at him, trying to pierce him with a stare. Yes, she could feel inside his head. The last thing she'd done was touch Melody...then someone, as best as she could estimate, had zapped her from behind, knocking her out. But she'd gotten a dose of Melody's adrenaline, and the darkness wouldn't take.
Good God...Melody...
"What is your name?" he asked.
"Rogue," she answered automatically.
"No, I mean your name," he repeated, his eyes piercing.
She didn't know why she wanted to answer. "Marie." It seemed harmless enough.
"Marie," he whispered. "My name is Remy LeBeau. But most people call me Gambit."
"Because you like to take chances," Rogue said, finally getting her feet back under her, mentally if not physically.
His eyes widened a bit. "Very good."
She nodded. If this was what it felt like to be Melody...God help Logan..."Look, Remy," she said, her voice all southern sweetness, "if you're tryin' ta make friends with me, you're doin' it from the wrong side of the street."
He seemed surprised. "I...I wasn't--"
"Uh huh." Oh, she felt it now. It was a beautiful thing, this incredible attraction. It was heavy, like thick velvet cloth. She wanted to run her fingers down it, just like that hair of auburn brown. She smiled at him, cat-like. "But if you wanna uncuff me..."
He shook his head, his eyes quick and sharp. "Ah, dere'll be none of dat today, chere," he said, his Cajun charm kicking into high gear. "Trying to play me? And here I thought you might be an innocent."
Her expression darkened. "Ask me what Mangeto tried to do to me," she said, her voice instantly ice, "and you'll understand why Ah'm not afraid ta fight dirty."
She'd gotten his curiosity. "What Magneto tried to do to you?" he echoed.
"He never told you about when he first came up against us, against the X-Men," she went on, undaunted. "It doesn't surprise me. A man like him would never admit that he's wrong. Ah've been inside his head, Ah know."
"And how, chere, did you accomplish dis?"
"He touched me." Her eyes nailed into his, daring him to challenge her. She pushed forward, riding on a wave of anger and passion and lust for revenge, the moral outrage at what that metal-wielding monster had tried to do to her mingling with her temper, which was getting more dangerous by the second. "He touched me to work some fancy machine of his, and he knew it would kill me. He didn't care."
Gambit seemed confused, but there was a light going on in the back of his mind. This one had already been suspecting his fearless leader, and now, she was just going to provide the straw and break the camel's back.
"He tried to kill you?" He looked her over. "But you're just a child!"
She gritted her teeth. "Ah WAS a child. Ah'm not anymore. Now you either unlock me and show me back upstairs where Ah belong, or you can be on the receiving end of whatever Ah'm gonna give him when Ah get there on mah own!"
Her voice had risen, and now it rang off the rock walls. Gambit let it fade off, considering her.
"I don't know about dat, chere. It would make you no better dan him. And loyalty is somet'ing I don't ever take lightly."
He might have said more, but a high-pitched alarm came from somewhere on his belt. He jumped, then reached down, deactivating the thing.
"I'm needed elsewhere," he said, and gave her an apologetic gesture. "You will be safe here, chere. I will be back."
"Don't leave me here, Gambit!" she shouted as he ran off. "Don't you leave me---!"
Things were not going all that great.
Mystique and Sabertooth--where he had been hiding all this time was anyone's guess, as there was no one present in the room ready to give any answers--finally showed up and came to their leader's defense. Storm and Iceman put up a good fight, and for a while, it worked, for they were fresh for battle--almost, with the exception that getting to the fight had been a rather trying experience.
Gambit arrived in time to see the white-haired one, Storm, barely keeping Sabertooth distracted, unable to conjure up any better weather than really hard winds. In the enclosure of the big metal room, there wasn't much she could do with her powers, and Sabertooth was too big to handle alone, hand to hand.
The one called Iceman had freed the one called Cyclops, but what good he was going to be, unable to use his mutant power because the control that he needed to open his visor was still wielded shut. There was the possibility that he would rip off his visor completely, but the risk was too great. He could take down his own team mates as well as the enemy.
Iceman was tangling with Mystique. That was an interesting fight, as he was trying to freeze her into a position and she kept shifting to smaller beings to escape his cold grip. She got close to him and gave him a good solid kick across the face. He stumbled and nearly collided into Storm, and the two looked at each other, nodded, and deftly switched partners. Storm was a much better match against Mystique's smaller, lithe form than up against Sabertooth's bulk, while Sabertooth could do little else to Iceman's weapon other than smash the obstacles that appeared.
Cyclops wasn't going to help them. He was kneeling down next to the red-head, the telepath with no fancy name, simply known as Jean. It was only fair, Gambit guessed, since Mangeto was still trying to recover from almost being killed by his own metal table. If his automatic defenses hadn't kicked in and he'd hadn't created some sort of magnetic shield around him, he would have been crushed beyond repair.
Storm really packed a punch. As Mystique was finding out.
Suddenly Cyclops was yelling the red-head's name--"Jean, Jean!"--over and over. She wasn't moving. He was checking her pulse, and then he clamped his hands together and started pressing them over his chest, then putting his mouth to hers and breathing into it. CPR. It didn't seem to be working.
The blow to the head could have been worse than Gambit anticipated. Could Melody-- Echo--have meant to kill the woman? But she hadn't wanted any of them to be killed...unless...
He shook it off. Eventually, Melody's power high was going to wear off and she was going to come back to her senses, and when she did, there was no telling what Magneto would do to her. He knew he couldn't convert her. What then, keep pumping her up and letting her fly off on psychotic rants caused by the primal emotions of savage mutants? Or maybe he would just kill her.
Funny...as he stood there, watching this battle, he did not feel compelled to join in. On any side.
All he could see, really, was Marie's face.
"Marie," he whispered. He gave it is lilting Cajun twist, rolling the "r" just a bit. He was smitten. He hadn't come so far into the Brotherhood and Magneto's vision not to remember his hormones, but it was more than just her beauty. Her fire, her passion, her brass--those were the beautiful things about her.
Maybe there was something to this guy Xavier's way of doing things, after all.
She didn't know where she was going, she was only running. Magneto had some odd forms of transportation down below--perhaps she would use one of them, if she could figure it out.
There was very little she felt she couldn't do now. Funny, considering her entire insides felt like they'd been shattered.
Unexpectedly, a hand reached up and out and seized her forearm, snagging her and dragging her back to a dark corner. She would have screamed, but within seconds she knew who it was.
"Andrew?" she whispered, turning and looking up into his face. He let her get a foot or so of room between them, and when she turned around all the way she realized that something wasn't right.
"Running again," he said, smiling lightly as he shook his head. "Melody, you really need to break your bad habits."
She didn't know whether to hug him in joy that he was still alive or slap him for all the chaos in which she knew he'd had a hand. That melting glass was something only he could have done. It made sense, anyway. "I could say the same for you," she said, a bit acidly.
He shrugged. "Yes, I know, I've had some problems." His look was searching. "I know you're not much better, though. Judge not."
"Lest ye be judged," she finished for him. She looked around. "Were you going to escape?"
"In a few minutes, maybe, after the work was done," he said, a dangerous gleam temporarily altering his face into the man she'd first met a decade and a half ago. "But the sweetest vengeance I could never properly extract. I just intend to stop what I was forced to start." His gaze was poignant. "What about you? What about Logan and your friends?"
"I've done all I can for them," she said, looking down. "If I stay, I'll just be more trouble."
He leaned closer to her, his face gentle. "Just like your parents, Mel?"
It stung. Deeply. She felt the wound swell around her chest and begin to grow, taking over her limps, making them thick and fluidy. "It's for their own good," she said, but her tongue felt like marble.
The corner of his mouth turned up a bit. "For them...or you?" His eyes sharpened. "You're running from Logan again, aren't you? I can see it in your face."
Her cheeks flamed. "He doesn't get it," she bit out. "He doesn't see what I really am. He's going to be happier without me, in the long run. Trust me."
Andrew sighed, pulled back, put his hands on his hips in a mild expression of exasperation. "You know, I heard the name that Magneto gave you. Echo."
She shrugged. "An echo of the person I should have been," she muttered bitterly.
He shook his head. "You know the myth, don't you? Echo and Narcissus?"
She turned her gaze up to him, frowning mildly. "Remind me."
"Narcissus was either a human or a fellow nymph, I don't remember, but in any case, his beauty was so great that everyone loved him. Everyone. Especially a nymph named Echo. She tried and tried to get him to notice her, but he never would. Then, one day, when he was in the forest, Echo was watching him, and he stopped to lean over a crystal clear pool. He saw his reflection and instantly fell in love." Andrew snickered. "Now, in Greek myths nymphs generally aren't too bright, so he just sat there, staring at himself, never realizing that it was his own reflection that he was in love with. Echo didn't help, because every time he would tell the reflection, 'I love you,' Echo would repeat it back, and he would think it was the reflection speaking. Eventually, he died, pining away for a love he could never have. And Echo was there the whole time, watching him. Eventually she died, too, and was destined to forever repeat whatever anyone else said, having nothing of her self, having emptied it all for Narcissus, who never loved anything but himself."
"Wow," Melody said, scowling. "I knew it was a sad story, but--"
He held up his hand. "Let me finish," he said. "A pitiful story of two extremes, yet both are the same--both love selfishly and yet selflessly, each dying for it. Echo was just as foolish as Narcissus because she didn't care about what made him happy, to stare at his reflection. She just wanted what she wanted, to be with him, and she died when he did. Magneto named you Echo, but perhaps he should have named you Narcissus, because instead of you pining away for him, you're letting him pine away for you."
Melody's jaw dropped and her mouth opened wide in wordless outrage. Finally, she gathered enough of herself together to screech, "How can you say that? I'm not doing this for me, I swear it! I'm doing this for him!"
"No, Mel," Andrew said sadly. "You're not." In his eyes, she saw the tracks switch. "I never did tell you what really brought me back to the Christian Faith, did I?"
She shook her head mutely.
"You see, I always knew I was capable of brilliant and terrible things. Perhaps it was a part of my mutant gift, I don't know. But I never cared about the consequences. I thought that I was heartless. Even Logan's mother knew that. The real reason she left me was because she couldn't sit by and watch me destroy myself and everyone around me. She knew I didn't really love her--and that's been a hard thing for me to admit--and that's probably why she left Logan with me, because she didn't want a single reminder of me. She didn't really love me, either, I realized before too long. But the bottom line was, after that, I thought I was heartless. I believed it for a very long time. I knew that there would be consequences for the things I did, but I didn't think I cared about them. And then," he added, his gaze raking over her face, "you came along. And your empathic gift fascinated me. And I realized that I did care. I didn't take it to well at first," he sighed, and Melody's back tingled at the memory. "It took me a long time to deal with it. But I realized that I did care. And that in the end, everything I had done was going to come back to me."
He turned away from her, his eyes troubled. He shook his head wearily, his sigh thick with exhaustion. "You know that no matter what we do, no matter how saintly we ever become, we will never be worthy of God's love."
Melody looked down, great tears coming to her eyes. "Yes," she whispered.
"Yet He loves us anyway, doesn't he? I mean, the Bible tells us...gave His only Son and all of that."
She nodded, her throat tightening.
"But we aren't worthy of it. Yet, does it matter to Him? He loves us anyway. Look at me...I deserve it least of all, and yet...well..." he broke off, shaking his head of the more deep and troubling reminders of his past sins. "My point is, Melody, that we as humans or even as mutants have been given an echo of this beautiful, perfect, selfless love. When we love, we get to feel something like this love that God feels for us. And when that happens, we don't think about ourselves and what makes us happy. We only care about that person." He rounded on her, his tone growing more forceful. "If you really loved Logan, Melody, you wouldn't run from him and hurt him like you do. You would do anything in your power to make him happy, even if you didn't feel you deserved him. You would thank him every day for choosing you, for loving you, even if you felt unworthy. And you would realize, as he's probably been desperately trying to tell you this whole time, that he doesn't feel like he deserves you, either. Because he does love you. Absolutely."
There was a heavy silence as Melody struggle to absorb this. The tears had found their way down her cheeks in thick flowing streams. Finally, she whispered in the smallest voice, one that sounded to Andrew more like it belonged on a five-year-old, "But I'm afraid."
"I know." He reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "I was afraid, too. Terrified for more reasons than I can even begin to tell you. But if this perfect kind of love is given to us from God Himself, and if we don't deserve it, how can we possibly turn our backs on each other, who are so much less than Him?"
She shut her eyes, trying to control herself. "Andrew," she whispered, "how in the world did you get like this?"
He stepped closer. "You came into my life," he said tenderly, kissing the top of her head. "For that, Melody, I will always love you."
Unable to stop herself, she let her arms wind around him and he pulled her close, burying her face into his chest. He held her there, letting her sob, even sobbing with her. Minutes passed. There were quakes and echoes of distant explosions. Melody could sense the growing chaos as the X-Men attempted to obliterate Magneto's lair. She finally pulled away.
"So what do we do now?" she asked.
"You go back upstairs and do what you know is right," he ordered gently.
"And what about you?" she asked, looking into his face. "Am I going to see you again? You know...you're the only family that I have."
It had taken so much for her to admit that. He squeezed her hand.
"You'll see me again, Melody," he assured her. "I promise."
"Haven't we been here before, Bub?" Logan growled as he entered the room. The battle between Sabertooth and Mystique and Storm and Iceman had pretty much destroyed the walls, the ceiling, the furniture, and was working on the floor. Great chunks of rock were coming up from where Sabertooth kept smashing the ice weapons that Bobby was attempting to create.
Magneto glared at him. "Just because you come to the same place twice, my lupine friend," he said, even as Logan felt his entire body freeze, "doesn't mean you're going in circles. This time there is going to be a different outcome. You're in my lair. No one beats me on my home territory."
"First of all, that bump on your head says different," Logan sneered. Then his eyes traveled to where Scott was nearly going frantic over Jeannie's unmoving body. "Second, I ain't your friend. And third, you talk too damn much."
Magneto glared at him. "You know, with other mutants, I never try to make things personal," he said, sounding like a tired old man. Then his glare turned vicious. "You make that impossible."
"What's the matter, geezer?" Logan taunted. "Afraid to let me loose and see what a real warrior can do?" His muscles tensed around his frozen skeleton, his rage rising inside his chest, unwilling to be denied, even as much as he was trying to stay calm. "You've taken everything from me that mattered," he continued, his voice icy with hate. "I've got nothing left to lose. What about you? You willing to finally put your guts where your mouth is? Or would you like me to do that for you?"
It seemed, for a second, that Magneto was tempted to take Logan up on his offer for a real fight, but he wasn't stupid. There was no way he was going to let those nine inch adamantium claws anywhere near him. But he didn't have time to reply. There was a high- pitched, shrieking alarm, and Magneto's face turned deadly white as it ran through the tunnel halls, ringing out its clear cry of panic.
"What is that?" Logan shouted. Sabertooth howled and clamped his hands over his ears and his knees nearly buckled as the high frequency tried to shatter his eardrums. It was just enough of a chance for Bobby to freeze him solid in a huge block of ice before he fell to the ground, panting. Mystique whirled on Magneto, her blue face stark white with panic.
"The alarm!" she cried, but Storm cold cocked her from behind. She fell forward, down for the count.
"Alarm?" Logan echoed, but it wasn't heard as Magneto whirled around and lept up the short, flat stairs out of the room. Behind him a huge metal door slid shut, and Logan barely had time to look the other way before the other entrance was sealed, too.
Blessedly, it all shut out the sound.
Two seconds later, Logan was able to move. He strode over to Mystique and flipped her over like a rag doll, getting his hands around her throat and dragging her to her feet. She was barely conscious.
"What alarm!" he howled into her face, letting one pair of claws slide out. He let one blade prick the skin under her chin. "WHAT ALARM!?"
"The self destruct," Mystique finally hissed back, her teeth baring like a cat. "Mangeto installed it just in case anything ever happened to him and he had to bury his secrets quickly."
Logan blinked, and then let her go. She collapsed into a heap at his feet, then glared up at him. It seemed she was wanting to fight him, but a quick glare from Storm and the realization that Sabertooth was frozen and Iceman's cold breath was floating only a few feet above her head made her reconsider.
"How typical," Bobby said. "Is it in the villain manual that every bad guy has to have a switch that'll bring their hideout crashing down around their ears?"
Storm looked up, searching for a single breeze, a draft that would ensure that there was some way out of here. Nothing. They were sealed in tight.
"We're trapped," she said softly.
Logan looked her, then at Scott who was holding Jean close. "I think it's a lot worse than just that," he said softly.
But at that moment, the huge metal door began to slide open again.
A soft white cloud of fogged air drifted in. What it was from, he didn't know. Probably caused by the intense cold of Bobby's mutant powers combined with a rush of warm air. It filled the doorway and for a moment he couldn't see who it--
He didn't need to see. He could smell her.
"Melody," he whispered.
She stepped inside the room. It was only then that they realized that the alarm wasn't going off anymore. It was all silent behind her. It had only been a few minutes. Whatever had been triggered obviously hadn't been all that hard to shut off. Then what was the point? Had she done it? It was too much to hope for.
She walked towards them, and they looked at her with a mixture of fear and hope. She paused as she passed Logan, giving him a single look that said too much to say anything at all. His end of their bond had by some miracle stopped hurting. It was like she felt drained.
She continued and walked over to where Scott held Jean. She knelt down before him, reaching out one hand and pressing it against Jean's temple, where blood oozed from the gash she'd received upon contact with the stone. Then, with the other hand, Melody reached up and touched Scott's forehead.
She shut her eyes.
There was a low, soft hum, like the vibration of a piano chord that sounded like it wanted to die off but insisted on continuing the echo of the note.
Melody's fingers glowed blue, like she was touching some source of light, but there was nothing but Scott and Jean and their tired, cold flesh--
Jean sputtered and began to cough. She hacked and gagged and almost rolled out of Scott's arms, trying to fill her lungs with precious oxygen again.
Scott jumped as if he hadn't seen a single thing happen. He leaned over her, even as Melody pulled away. She remained on her knees, even as Jean's eyes opened and Scott pulled her into his arms, laughing and holding her, but not too close, Storm tried to tell them, because Jean had just had quite a shock.
Only Logan saw Melody raise her hands to her face and cover it. Her shoulders rose once in a shuddering sob, and then she lowered her hands again, wiping the tears away.
He came over to her and knelt down behind her. He reached out and cupped her shoulders from behind in his hands. He was afraid, so afraid she was going to pull away--
She twisted around and threw her arms around his waist, pressing her face against his chest. She held him fast, tight, and Logan almost couldn't get his arms around her shoulders fast enough. If he had died from the force of her squeezing the air from his lungs, he would have died happy.
"Welcome back, Mel," he whispered into her hair.
"I promise I'll never leave again," she swore, and pulled away, looking up into his eyes. There was such pain there, but she was dealing with it.
After all this time, after all that had happened, somehow, she was finally starting to heal.
"How touching."
For a moment, everyone looked at everyone else, wondering who had spoken. Then, finally, Melody's eyes went to the doorway.
Magneto was back. And he wasn't happy. Not at all.
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