Out of the Darkness

I don't own him, but I am beginning to join the can I chain him in my basement set….Marvel owns him, much to my regret at this point.

Where was Victor Creed from the end of X one to the end of X Three?

Chapter 6

The room was quiet except the man sitting in the chair and the breathing of the people behind her. Her eyes were uncovered for the first time in weeks. It had taken them a week for Victor to get them settled. She still wasn't entirely certain where they were, but she could smell warm sea breezes and hear gulls. She didn't smell anything too tropical, so she was guessing northern Mexico or southern California. She slept a lot, without being able to uncover her eyes she felt helpless again. She hadn't felt this helpless since the trip back from El Diablo's fortress. She'd been eleven, and in pain, her sight had been spotty and blurry, by the time they got her to a doctor, it had gone completely. Now here she was, facing another doctor, something she'd promised herself she would never do again.

"Alright open your eyes. You shouldn't be able to SEE anything at this point, so don't be alarmed. The room is sealed and no light allowed in." She relaxed. The room was dark, he was right there wasn't any light in the room. Her mutation allowed her to sense the light levels around her, even if she couldn't see it. It didn't give her fine control, she couldn't 'see' with her mutation, but she could tell if the day was overcast, or sunny; if an artificial light was on, or when someone walked into a room, altering the flow of light.

"Close them again, I am going to bring the light level up – but not into the visible range. You should be able to make out lighter and darker areas in the room, but no detail." It was still black when she opened her eyes. She couldn't see any change at all, but she could feel a little light in the room. She tried to hide her disappointment.

"I'm going to bring the light up to low visible spectrum, more like dusk or dawn, you should be able to make out objects, but no detail, and if there is any damage that light will aggravate you should feel discomfort." She started to open her eyes again, and heard him move in the chair behind her. She waited a second, and then slowly slipped her eyelids up. At first, she was just confused. She'd been without sight long enough that her mind wasn't able to process the stimuli, at first.

"Can you see anything?" The man in the chair next to her asked.

"I…think so."

"You think so?"

"I think there's a table over there." Her mind was relearning quickly and the confusion went away. He slowly brought the light up, again and she could make out more detail – and COLOR. She could see red and blue and orange and…not clearly, certainly, but she could see color again. She could tell she was in a normal optician's office, sitting in the chair with all the equipment attached to it. She'd KNOWN that, but SEEING it was different.

"The room is now at normal exam levels, so we will move to the eye exam." He said, glancing at the two behind her.

"Ashe…?"

"It's okay, Victor."

"Mar and I will step outside then." She nodded, afraid to turn to face him. She didn't want to tell him it was only partially successful, she could see, but detail was beyond her ability.

The doctor went through the routine, the heavy cold metal glasses slipping over her face as he adjusted lenses until suddenly, everything was clear.

"Well, that answers that question. I will want to see you regularly, at least for the next few months as you adjust to your sight again. Here is the prescription for your glasses. Your eyesight has been permanently damaged, but no more or less than hundreds of thousands of other people in the world. You will be wearing glasses the rest of your life." She returned the smile on the rotund man's face.

"Thank you."

"The optical shop next door should be able to have them ready this afternoon." He smiled again. He helped her climb out of the chair, and brought the room up to normal light levels. She forced herself to contain the burst of joy, just walking out of the room. Everything was still a huge blur, details were either more than she could process at the moment, or lost simply due to the damage. At least that part was correctible.

"Ashe." A blur said from her left. She turned to the familiar voice and Maryanne walked close.

"Well – the great reveal will have to wait until I get glasses." She smiled.

"So you CAN see?"

"Lots of blurs, but yeah. Where's Victor?"

"He went down to the car. He gave me a credit card and told me to make sure you got whatever you needed."

"Coward." Ashe said bitterly.

"He isn't either, take that back." Mar said sharply.

"He's afraid of what will happen when I see him."

"Yes – he is. He's afraid of losing you."

"He couldn't shake me off with a stick, I'm more worried about him taking off and leaving me, now that I won't need him anymore."

"Ashley Case, do you need him?"

"Yes."

"Then what's that shit about not needing him anymore." Mar led her to the front desk and paid the woman sitting there. She led her out the door, into the hallway, and to a neighboring door. "You need him, and he needs you. Your eyesight has nothing to do with it. He's CRAZY about you."

"Speaking of crazy how's Pyro?"

"Don't ask." Mar led her to a chair at a table and had her sit down. The saleswoman started talking about frames and lenses and scratch coatings…Ashley wasn't listening.

"So?" She said waving the woman away.

"Ashe you have to pick frames."

"HOW, it's all a blur. You pick them, and what's going on with Pyro?"

"He's an ass and a jerk – and oh my GOD, I know what you see in Victor. Whatever it is these 'bad boys' have, it defiantly comes out in bed."

"YOU SLEPT WITH HIM!" She could hear the saleswoman's chuckle.

"Try these on – I think someone on the fifth floor, without a battery in their hearing aid didn't hear you." The frames felt confining on her face but not as bad as the bandages had. She had no idea what they looked like.

"Answer me…did you sleep with him?"

"Sleep isn't the operative word." Mar said handing her a second pair of frames to try on.

"You said he was a KID!"

"He's nineteen."

"Mar – you're twenty six."

"So what, it's not like I'm setting up housekeeping with John."

"John?"

"Yea you don't call Victor Sabre…." Ashley clapped a hand over Mar's mouth, at least with some sense of sight she could see where her friend's face SHOULD be.

"Those two will be fine." Mar told the saleswoman.

"It should be about two hours, we close at five." The woman said. Mar paid half up front, and led Ashe down to the car.

"Damn."

"What, all I see is a big black blur."

"He left. There's a note, 'Mags called, I need to meet him will be back around five.' And he took the keys." Mar's tone was one Ashe was used to, frustration.

"Tell me there's someplace to eat around here?" Ashe said.

"Restaurant at two o'clock."

"Glad you can see it."

"Ha ha, wonder if they have a menu in Braille."

"That would be nice." Ashe said with a smile at least that was a skill she wouldn't ever lose.

They sat down at the table and Mar asked for a Braille menu. Ashe was secretly looking forward to being able to read again, really read, not with her fingers but with her eyes. They ordered drinks and their lunch and Ashe waited until the waiter left before going back to the topic at hand.

"So…"

"You aren't going to let this die are you?"

"No. Last I heard you wanted to take a fire extinguisher to his head."

"Yeah well…"

"No yeah wells, I want play by play." Ashe said, grinning. She could smell her lunch as it arrived. The nice thing about a good sandwich place – sandwiches didn't take time to make.

"It was after the move. Victor was getting you settled, and don't think I don't know what THAT means." Mar said. Ashe giggled, she was right; he'd done EVERYTHING he could think of to make her comfortable, several times, before he'd gone to make sure everyone else was at least in place.

"What, spying on me?"

"No, Victor's just LOUD!" They both laughed.

"We're not talking about Victor."

"Fine – John! I was getting the kitchen area set up, the place wasn't very habitable when we got there."

"And we have to fly to get back?"

"Yes, it's an island off the coast; we can either fly or take a boat out. Anyway, John came in and gave me fits about being there, you know how he is about 'Normals' anyway, I got fed up, and whacked his hand, the one he carried his lighter in, with a frying pan. I think I broke it; I DID knock the lighter out of his hand. I probably can't get by with that again now that he has those damned flamethrowers."

"Get to the POINT!" Ashe said.

"I felt bad, and he went from…well, big bad Pyro, out to burn the world down, to a hurt little boy with a broken finger. You know me; I can't resist anything that's hurt."

"What did you do, offer to kiss his boo boo?"

"I actually offered to set the finger, and I got too close to him. He grabbed me and I swear he was going to kill me but he got this strange look on his face and kissed me instead." Mar had a soft tone in her voice, which told Ashe that she'd very much welcomed the advance.

"He slammed the kitchen door with his foot, and…well…it was nice, really really nice."

"I hope you mopped the floor."

"And scrubbed the table and counter tops, and the fridge door."

"OH MY GOD! You two are worse than me and Vic."

"I thought you hated him."

"I did – do – did. Oh God, do you know how long it's been since I've had SEX! PROM!"

"You had sex at Prom?"

"After, when we dropped you off."

"Oh my God."

"And this was my first orgasm alright."

"Mar…TMI!"

"Yeah, right…You and what do you call him, Mr. Squeakers – aren't exactly discreet. And why do you call him that, anyway?"

"Private joke – don't worry about it. Speaking of, what time is it?"

"Almost three, your glasses should be ready."

"Well let's go. I'd actually like to be able to SEE…"

"Victor?"

"Among other things."

"Are you scared?"

"No, You've described him enough, I think I have a good mental image, but I don't know…I guess I'm hoping my mental image is as good as the real thing."

"Well, let's go get those glasses; they still have to fit them."

They walked back to the building where the optical shop was. The SUV was still parked outside. Mar led her inside and into the elevators. She just hoped she wouldn't need anyone to lead her around after this. She didn't want to complain, but she felt a headache starting to build behind her eyes.

In the optical shop both pair of glasses were ready and they fitted them. The pain in her head seemed to retreat now that her eyes would focus. She still was having some problems adjusting to the visual stimuli, but it was going to take time to get used to it again. After the glasses were paid for, and the spare pair was in her purse, they went back down the elevators.

He was leaning on the truck, and Ashe just stopped dead in her tracks at the door. He was everything Maryanne had described and more. His hair – she loved the feel of it, and now she could put a color to that curtain that covered her when they made love. He was HUGE. She knew it, but seeing it just made the impact worse – or better because she understood now why she felt so safe with him. She looked at his face and didn't understand the expression she saw. He looked like he was in pain.

"Let's go." He said stiffly. She ran and threw herself into his arms. "Ashe…we don't have time for this."

"Like hell. You are beautiful." She whispered.

"What?"

"Well you are." He looked down at her, and suddenly he smiled.

"Let's go – we need to get back to base, Mags has some information about a new procedure that can 'cure' mutants."

"Oh."

"We'll talk later."

"Talk wasn't what I had in mind."

"Oh really?"

"Oh yeah, really…I want to REALLY look at you."

"I think that's the sexiest thing you've ever said." He grinned, and leaned down. He kissed her, and she closed her eyes, some things were STILL better in the dark.