By Nadja Lee 14/09/02
English is not my native language. Please forgive me my mistakes.
Disclaimer: "X-men" and all the characters here belong to Marvel, 20 Century Fox and I intend no infringement, this is a piece of amateur fan fiction, and I make no money of it.
Disclaimer: "7 Spanish Angels" was sung by Willie Nelson & Ray Charles and belong to them, song writer and record company and I intend no infringement, this is a piece of amateur fan fiction, and I make no money of it.
Only the original idea contained within this work is the property of the author. Please do not copy this story to any website or archive without permission of the author.
Timeline: Set in the movie universe. After the movie.
Universe: Set in the movie universe; NOT the book which goes with it.
Romance: Logan/Rogue, Scott/Jean, Ororo/Remy, Jubilee/Bobby
Summary: After the Registration Act, after the Holocaust….in a dark world Logan and Rogue fight their way through…together.
Archiving: Want, ASK, take, have.
Feedback: Yes, please. My e-mail address is [email protected]
Rating: R.
Sequel/series: None
Warning: Dark, sad fic. Deals with death, loss and violence.
Author's Notes: This story was inspired by the song "Seven Spanish Angels". I heard this song for the first time when I was about twelve and my first thought was 'I want this song to be one of the songs played/sung at my funeral'. Yeah, I was a strange child and years haven't changed me.
Thanks to Karen for Beta.
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It's amazing what you can live through. It's even more amazing how quickly you get used to things you once thought would've only happened in your worst nightmares.
Despite protests against it, the Mutant Registration Act went through. People were scared…Scott used to say that people always fear what they don't know or can't understand. Well, they must have been very ignorant and stupid because they sure feared us a lot. The passing of the Registration Act made many mutants afraid and some of us began to leave America for a freer Europe, that granted had lots of trouble, but at least there were no legal acts in place. Politics dragged on and a small resistance group of humans fought with us, many of them from minority groups themselves, who could sympathize even more so because with time their ranks began to include mutants as well.
Xavier called for peace and hope, while Magneto called for action and war. Looking back it's hard to say who would have won had things turned out differently. God must have a strange sense of humour because though the obvious target was Magneto, now free and leading a small resistant army on raids against government installations, it was Xavier who paid in blood. In a desperate last attempt to call for tolerance and reason Xavier admitted to being a mutant; calling on understanding and asking if it really mattered; they had all respected him before they knew…why should that change now? But it did. Two days later Xavier was assassinated by a car bomb; leaving behind a broken dream and a lost legacy. Jean, who'd always accompanied him to the Senate hearings, died with him leaving Scott devastated and heartbroken; he was never the same again. He took over leadership of the X-men but pain and agony clouded his mind. He joined with Magneto the day the Mutant Concentration Act was passed and the Government began capturing mutants, moving them to 'safe installations'…. death camps for those not brainwashed by the media or who refused to face facts.
Though the new 'Mutant Front' as the joined forces of the Brotherhood and X-men named themselves had many powerful mutants among them they were horribly outnumbered; at least 1000:1 odds in favour of the humans. The Government's cruel ingenuity made it even more difficult as they invented guns and other weapons designed specifically to disable mutant's powers, enabling them to be captured easily.
The Mutant Front leadership was divided between Scott on the Southern front and Erik on the West. Though both were great leaders and warriors they had different approaches to everything. Scott was a classic military leader, gathering information, calculating weak points and studying his enemy before attacking. Erik used brute force, hitting with a hard blow for every friend or teammate he had lost. In this war no one was innocent and soon most of the land was one gigantic battlefield; only being held together by the Government in an ironlike grip. Martial law was declared and the death penalty was used as if it was the new solution to everything. There was death penalty for helping, housing, feeding or in any way aiding mutants, but all the same a network of a few but brave…or foolish accomplices was established as a mutant underground, helping mutants escape America and seek more tolerant countries.
The war, though of course never officially declared a war, has been going on for ten years now. Through the years bonds were built and broken. The children born during the war were mostly lost; we lost Kitty's daughter early on and later Jubilee and Bobby's two children followed.
Only one of Ororo's children escaped out of America with her father, Remy. However Ororo didn't. Remy went back for her, to take her to Mexico to be reunited with their baby, but on the way across the border they were discovered. Remy covered for his wife so Ororo did get across, but she'd been wounded in the process and he'd been captured. We later heard she'd died of her wounds after having received news that her husband had been tortured to death and his body hung up in a tree as a warning to others.
We've lost so many; we've fought so many battles…so much blood. Those who didn't have anyone to turn to or those who cared too deeply died first. We lost John and Kitty early on. Bobby and Jubilee who had married some years before the war lost their children and only mere months later they also died. I find comfort in the fact that they died together.
Most of us knew from the start we were fighting a losing battle, but every living being resists its own destruction…so we fought. With time things began to break as we lost more and more men. A traitor in our midst broke Scott's famous intelligence ring. Logan killed him painfully but that didn't undo the damage he'd caused. We lost Mystique and Warren…our two best spies - but worst than anything…we lost Scott. He had remained as a symbol for our cause and for the hope we all still carried with us. We had lost Magneto a year before in battle; my only comfort being that his death was quick…I can't say the same for Scott. He was captured and tortured. They knew who and what he was; that if he talked they'd have the rest of the network as Scott knew the entire Underground, every plan and every spy. After two months Sabretooth found out where they had him and he and Logan went to get him…one way or another. After what Logan told me I'm glad I wasn't a part of that mission. What they found wasn't pretty; a broken shell of a man - yet Logan insisted Scott recognised him. When they finally got him out he said just two things; that he hadn't talked…and that he wished for Logan to kill him. Logan later explained to me that Scott asked him to do it because it would be less painful and because he wanted a friend to end it. I don't think I could have done it had Scott asked me. Logan told me he had been as gentle as possible but Scott's body had been a mess of bruises; everywhere he held would be painful to him. I've seen some of the mutants the government has had their hands on and human cruelty never ceases to amaze me. Though from what Logan told me they had really given Scott all they had - from beatings, whip marks and burns, to several of his teeth and fingers missing. Logan told me he held Scott like a mother her child, that he spoke softly to him and that Scott closed his eyes and smiled just as Logan slit his throat with a claw…
What I wouldn't give to have been able to make his death an easy one but maybe now he's at peace…with Jean and the others. Maybe now they're finally all at peace.
In the end all that was left of a shattered army and a lost people was Logan and I. We'd married some years before the war but I never managed to be able to control my mutation so we'd never had any children. Had I not had him to guide me, support me, protect me and love me I would have gone mad. After Sabretooth's death, he was the last to fall because of his healing powers, Logan tried to get us safely across to Mexico. He had tried to make me leave before, but the trip itself was dangerous and I wouldn't go without him. We ran all we could, he killed, stole, lied….did anything he had to do to get us through, as did I. Though he didn't want me doing anything dangerous, he also knew it was hard to prevent that in a war. We reached the border, we could see freedom…and then they came…soldiers running towards us, mutant guns in hand. Reacting quickly, Logan gathered me up into his arms and ran all he could away from the border and towards higher and more isolated land. I felt him take a hit in his left leg and wanted him to put me down, but he just held on tighter. I had my arms around him, my tears making his shirt wet as I lay my head by his shoulder. I prayed all I could; for his safety and for the bullet to have been an ordinary one because I knew his healing powers couldn't work faster enough to heal a wound inflicted by a specialized weapon.
In the cover of night we ran on until he finally had to put me down. I wanted to look at his wound but he assured me it was nothing. We ran till the breaking of dawn, but never lost the soldiers -Logan could smell they were near. In the light I could see the bullet had been a special mutant one as his leg was red and swollen, his brow was feverish and his eyes were glassy. I would have done anything to save him, but I could do nothing but hold him tight as he fell to his knees in pain and exhaustion. In his weakened state he didn't smell the soldiers until it was too and they had us surrounded. He brought himself up on his feet and eased me behind him. I laid my arms around him and whispered 'I love you' in his ear. He smiled warmly and said he loved me too. Then suddenly my world exploded. Bullets began to rain down on us; someone screamed…it had to have been me. When the smoke cleared Logan was down and I saw he had stood as my shield so all the bullets had entered him. He had kept his vow to protect me; not one bullet had touched me. I looked into his eyes and saw that his entire face was frozen in agony. Tears were born and died on my cheeks as I cried for a loss too painful to describe. I died in that moment as I understood he wouldn't get up, wouldn't come back.
I saw now where we were and where we were heading…hate that breeds hate…here we were….
Home of the free…..land of the damned!
When I lifted my head and looked at the soldiers, I knew I could never win, I knew there was no chance….
I took off my gloves, put my arms on Logan's face and bent down and kissed him. Such a sweet kiss, tasting of blood and tears. Such a final kiss….when the soldiers fired again my final prayer was answered.
Together… Till The End