Chap 12
AN-Look for more action in the next instalment!
Logan came back into the statue, but Victor was nowhere to be seen. She could see the others and hear them talking, but it was like a dream where everyone was speaking a different language, the words just didn't connect. She was glad that Logan was ok, he was starting to become a friend. But she felt horribly numb.
Where was Victor? He should have been back. He wouldn't leave her now.
She didn't know him, but she knew he would have been back by now to finish what he/she/they had started. She was vaguely aware of Logan helping her down, asking if she was alright but she could only mumble distracted nonsense.
Poor kid. I don't know who that bastard was, but I'm glad he's gone fer good. She shouldn't have had to go through this. Damn it! I said I'd take care of her!
"Kid, Liadan, it's alright." Logan tried to break through her fog, speaking as if to a spooked colt. It looked like she was searching for something. Probably the bastard who tried to take her innocence. "I'm gonna go get Roguey ok darlin'? I'll be back in a little bit. Scott!" Logan called to the leader, while prying her hands off of his arms gently. She wasn't making any sense.
"Where's Victor?" She finally got out as Logan passed her useless-legged form to Scott. "What?" He asked her, intense, finally switching his attention from Marie to this little girl. "Sabertooth? He's dead." He thought he was being reassuring.
Liadan was numb. In shock. And Logan turned back to the business at hand.
Liadan used her power to search out for the man that had so complicated her life, but she felt nothing. She opened herself up to the power and focused more intently on him than on anything she ever had before but couldn't feel him anywhere. He wasn't touching the statue. Or he wasn't alive. She started to weep.
"Shhhh." Scott tried to sooth the traumatized assault victim. "It's all right. Shh, it's all over now."
But Scott didn't realize that that was precisely why she was upset. Liadan was exhausted physically and emotionally and just shut down. She wasn't unconscious, and Scott had a job to do, so he left her there sobbing silently on the ground, so he could go take care of business.
On the jet ride home, Liadan couldn't think. Logan and Rogue were safe. That's all she knew. That and she didn't know if she would ever see Victor again. She didn't even know who he was. Or, more importantly, who he was to her. You're being stupid. She thought to herself angrily. He's just some guy, who jumped you. Who cares if he was drop dead gorgeous? Who cares if he called you little one? That doesn't mean anything. Just because you had a stupid discordant dream that had a guy in it who called you that doesn't mean anything. He's not your destiny so shut up Liadan. He's the enemy for crying out loud!!
………
The next few days were spent in awkwardness for Liadan. Rogue was pretty funny, acting like a guy and all. Especially a guy like Logan. But she had her own issues just like Liadan. The two spent a lot of time together late at night, not really talking about much, but it was still important. When Logan came to, they wanted to run to him, but figured that he wouldn't appreciate it. So they waited for him to come to them.
Liadan spent her class time ignoring everyone. She just played with her deck of cards, changing the ink around with her glamours. Outside of class, she went from silent and brooding to cheerful and sprightly in seconds. No one was really sure what to make of it. Gwynne was beyond confused (mainly because she had her shields up) and the little talks that Ms. Munroe and Dr. Grey tried to have with her were not helping.
"Jeeze," She heard Summers telling the other teachers one day after classes. "I know that she's been through something really horrible with that bastard, but she's like a pubescent Logan."
Well, she thought to herself while walking to the front door to say goodbye to her roving friend; they don't know the half of it. At least they won't have to miss him so badly then when he leaves then.
……….
Logan had been gone a little while. Whether it was a week or three Liadan couldn't say, she couldn't keep track under normal circumstances, he had been teaching a little impromptu defense class that she had started to enjoy, but life at the mansion must have been to much for him. But life had moved on. Rogue was no longer hitting on women and was in fact, dating Bobby. And Liadan thought that a new term had started at school.
"Hey sugar-fairy, how're you today?" A brunette teen bounced up to her short friend before Xavier's class started. Rogue had been worried about her one good friend ever since the return from the island. She tried to keep her cheerful and normally it worked but she couldn't help but notice that they had been getting closer when Rogue was more like Logan, and now that she was back to normal, Liadan was drifting away a bit.
"'m fine." Liadan answered breezily. "Professor didn't give us any homework did he? Cause you know I didn't do it if he did."
Rogue was used to Liadan's subject changes by now. In this case it meant that she was in a melancholy brooding mood, and Rogue was almost at her wits end trying to snap her out of it. She knew that something happened between her friend and the one decent person who had kidnapped her-Sabertooth, Magneto had called him- but she didn't know what. Liadan always clamed up when he was mentioned.
"Nope no homework, but I think today we're changing from English, to Mutant Studies and politics. Sounds like it should be fun!"
"Sounds like Government class. I hate Government." Sulked Liadan to herself as Bobby showed up, making Rogue grin and basically ignore her.
It's not like she wanted to be negative. And she knew she was acting like a bratty teenager, but wasn't she entitled to a stereotypical breakdown once in her adolescence?
The thick wooden door to Professor Xavier's class room swung open and the students began to file in. When everyone was settled, Xavier started with his crystal blue gaze sweeping the room. His eyes rested on Liadan for a fraction longer than the rest before he looked away.
"Today's lecture shall be more like a discussion. You need not take notes," He started then turned his gaze to a now slouching John. "but you do need to pay attention. You are graded on participation and understanding in this class.
Now, I'm sure you are all aware, at least in part of the events on Liberty Island. We may have to have Rogue and Liadan clear some things up for us," He gave the girls a friendly smile, "but I am certain that we have all heard enough rumours to start this conversation." Liadan, the professor spoke into her mind, we will be talking of Victor. Please don't fret. His paternal smile of sympathy along with his words made her sit up straight and put on her best steel mask of strength.
If it's necessary for the class.
Very well. I am sorry if it grieves you dear, but it is important for the class to understand.
"Now you all know that Eric Lensherr and I built this school together. Today we will try to talk about my old friend and his associates, the closest of which are Mystique, Sabertooth, and Toad, so that we can better understand their aims.
Many years ago when Eric and I were first building this school, a man came to me for help. His name was Victor Creed." Here he paused to look at his newest student. She seemed a bit shaken but she recovered herself quickly so he went on.
"Victor Creed, now known as Sabertooth, had been in a fight with another feral mutant, and sought my help in reorganizing his damaged brain. Now Victor is a class four or five feral mutant like Logan, who has a healing factor to rival Wolverine's. Feral mutants are under normal circumstances, much more influenced by their instincts and emotions than a normal person. I believe that Liadan has dubbed any mutant with a strong pull towards their primal side, as most ferals are, as being Fae." His eyes twinkled at the girl and she smiled. "Would you like to share with the class briefly your understanding of the brains of those you call Fae?" Xavier asked her.
"Um, sure. Soo, for guys like Logan, and…and Victor," She started trying to put into words something she didn't quite understand anyway. "it seems that they are very traditional. I mean we're all kinda primal, so for them it's like they are the Hunters, and the Protectors. They are super macho and sometimes it can get annoying, but I don't know, for me, it's kinda sweet. Um, I'm the only chick, er, female Fae-ish person I know, but I guess as a gender role thing…I'm totally fine with the guy thinking he's in control, but if he were in any sort of danger I definitely would be by his side kicking a-butt." She reddened at her near slip in front of the professor, but went on quickly. "Uhm, for me, I know I'm a teenager so I have problems anyway, but with my mutation added on top of everything, I have really bad impulses, and really bad impulse control. Normally I stop myself before I punch someone in the face or jump them, but it's extremely hard. I don't really get it, but I know our brains work differently and we don't always think things all the way through. As the professor said, we're much more likely to go by our instincts or our feelings than rational thought."
"Thank you Liadan, yes on a basic level you have a very good grasp of the workings of the mind of feral's and other mutants-that we'll call Fae for convenience's sake." The professor took the classes attention back. "Victor's assailant had damaged his brain in several places including the Medulla, the Amygbala, and the Frontal Cortex. The Medulla regulates automatic functions like breathing, things one doesn't have to think about, or for ferals like Victor, his healing factor. His mutation was able to repair his injuries to an almost normal state, but he was unable to heal his brain's injuries.
If you have heard of Phineas Gage, then you will have a grasp of what happened when Victor's brain was scrambled. Phineas Gage was a man who had a piece of metal pierce his skull many years ago. The incident damaged his Frontal lobes, the part of the brain that is related to analytical thought and civilization, and his personality was altered. He became more reliant on his amygdala; the more primal part of the brain associated with fear and anger, and became prone to rages, and other undesirable characteristics. This is much like what took place inside of Victor Creed's mind after his run in with the other feral.
Now make no mistake, Sabertooth is a mercenary. He is a soldier for hire, and will kill for pleasure or money, but he is not as bad as the stories say. However, after his brain became disrupted he became almost completely unable to control his rages and the blood lust that almost all feral mutants are prey to. The stories and urban legends say that Sabertooth is a masochistic killer. A rapist and murderer who kills men, women, and children, indiscriminately. And at this time, that was almost true. But Victor is of course, still a man. He came to me to ask if I could help him to regain more control. While I was working with him he met Eric, who by now was becoming more and more distant from the path we had started to pave for the future.
I am happy to say that Victor and I were able to fully reverse the damage done to his brain. But he had heard the stories about himself and found that they helped make his work easier. So for almost the past forty years, Victor Creed has continued to feed the fodder's fire by acting as everyone's worst nightmares of Sabertooth. But I must honestly tell you that while he can be very dangerous, Victor creed is not as bad as he seems."
Liadan was having just a few troubles processing all of this information. She knew that Victor was the x-men's enemy, but she didn't know that he was a mercenary, or that he was like the boogeyman to some people. She felt like he had been a decently good guy when she was with him. She had felt safe with him. And she really didn't think he had been over forty! But then again, healing factors were interesting things.
"Pardon Professor, I feel I gotta add some experience if we're tryin' to understand this guy." Rogue said with a raised hand and Liadan swiveled to see her. Liadan knew that Rogue probably had a much better idea of who 'this guy' was than she did, after all, Rogue was the one in his presence for so long, not Liadan. And that fact almost pissed Liadan off, but she recovered herself quickly, before she had too many thoughts of murdering her best friend.
"When I was with…them," Rogue started with a slightly contorted face. It was difficult for her to discuss this but everyone was in this class so they could understand the people they might have to go up against someday. "Sabertooth was the only one I would ever consider talking to in a normal situation. And maybe that's just 'cause he reminds me of Logan, but he was the only one who was even remotely nice to me. I mean, Magneto, he would have been almost decent, but he was gonna kill me just 'cause he didn't wanta sacrifice himself for his "cause." Her face took on a distinctly sour cast at the mention of her near death experience. "Toad, I didn't see much of, but he just acted like it was a game, and Mystique…I don't even wanna go into how much I dislike that wench.
Creed was the one who in a gruff sorta obviously male feral/fae-ish way" She smiled at Liadan, "took some sort of care for me. He's the one that threw a blanket at me when he saw I was shivering, and he's the one who asked if I was hungry and tore open an MRE for me 'cause my hands were shaking too bad. Mystique just walked around like the evil queen of the world and laughed at me. Sabertooth didn't look at me much or really say anything, but he looked kinda sad. Like he really didn't want to be there doing that."
Liadan zoned out for the rest of the class and drifted away back to her room afterwards. She could feel Xavier's presence in her mind, as if he was asking her if she needed anything, but he went away when she didn't make a move to open up.
No one knew what to do. Gwynne wouldn't just use her powers, and Liadan refused to talk to her mom about any of it. So the adults eventually left her alone.
She needed time to think, to sort out her thoughts and feelings. It was just hard when the one she wanted to find out the most about would never come back to her. She spent her days crying herself to sleep and ignoring classes until her teachers stopped looking for her.
AN-Ok so this is the end for now! Thank you for reading, and don't worry because I really do want another part to this. I've already got some of this mapped out. Look in a couple days for it. And look back in a couple weeks because I intend to revamp this one. As always please leave a review and if you have any questions or see anything that needs my attention feel free to message me. Much love!
Ceilidh