mistressofelements | Winter reunion

Winter reunion

Ororo didn't really have a problem with Christmas, but she didn't really care about it either and the Professor... well, he really sort of did. Not that he would ever force anyone to get into the spirit of things, everyone was quite free to do as they pleased when it came to that but it could not be denied that the mansion became increasingly jolly the closer they got to Christmas day.

In the end, she decided that she might in fact wish to spend the holidays elsewhere.

Things had been rocky with Erik of late, to say the least, and she wasn't entirely sure if he would actually welcome her presence, but she still sent him the adress to the cabin she'd rented together with the message "I have something for you", and... well, hoped.

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"To save lives."

The scientists were people too. Misguided people yes, but that didn't mean they'd lost their right to be safe and alive, just like being mutants did not make Erik and Ororo less deserving of living free lives.

"And I was saved, Erik. Do you seriously think the professor would ignore information that could create an antidote?"

As far as he was concerned, people who tried to kill him and people like him deserved what they got. But she said something he couldn't miss and it distracted him. He narrowed his eyes and watched her face.

"What are you talking about?"

For a moment, her eyes turned a solid white as she reached out with her powers to connect with the world around them. She didn't do more that that, though she would if he needed more proof.

"The cure... It doesn't really work. Over time the effect wears off. We found a way to help that process along."

"Using the research you stole from me," Erik concluded flatly.

His tone is flat, but there's something besides ice in his eyes. A small spark.

"It's not permanent? How long does it last without 'help'?"

"That you in turn had stolen from the lab."

No, she wasn't going to let him have the moral high ground there. Her eyes returned back to their usual colour as she kept talking.

"And we don't know. My cells were reverting back to their normal state relatively quickly."

But then she was one of the most powerful mutants in existence.

"Congratulations. You didn't end up needing me after all. Is that why you invited me here? To gloat? Your way won and my way lost?"

That does make her step back, naked hurt on her face for a moment.

"You really think I would do that?"

He wants to say 'yes' because it's spiteful, but he can't because it isn't true. He looks away, putting his hands in his pockets.

"No," he admits.

"The information on how to reverse the cure... We'll share it with you. If you want it."

If he didn't, he was a fool.

"If we still need it, it's because the 'cure' is still out there," he told her, pointing out, beyond the cabin. "And whose fault is that?" He looked at her again, unable to maintain the facade, his gaze sad and tired and pained. "You should have let us clean house. Your hands would be clean, his hands would be clean and the problem would be gone."

She stepped closer to him again, and if he let her she would carefully reach out to take his hands.

"And what about your hands? I care about you too much to just... Treat you like some sort of tool or weapon, don't you know that?"

He does let her, even as he argues her logic.

"But that's what I am. My hands have been dirty since I was thirteen years old. The only difference is that now I decide what my targets are, and I protect our people. I have chosen to protect our people because somebody has to and I can. I won't watch them herded and slaughtered; not again. I won't allow it to stand. I won't let them have the means, because when they achieve the means, they'll use it. Don't you understand? There's no 'I told you so' at the end of this scenario. It's life or death, for every single one of us."

Edited 2014-12-23 17:51 (UTC)

Well, she wasn't expecting him to just give up. Getting to hold his hands was enough for the moment.

"If you look at yourself as just a... A thing then soon enough you'll start seeing other people that way too, and if you can't see people as people then what is the point of anything that we are trying to do? Then you will have turned into the very thing you are trying to protect us all from and you will start hurting not just people you think deserve it, but anyone who just happens to be in your way."

He looked at her with the sort of wariness one reserves for things you want so much that you don't trust they're real. The 'too good to be true' reservation.

"Are you trying to 'fix' me? Because I'm not sure it's possible, but it's probably sweet that you care enough to want to."

"No, I'm not trying to fix you. I'm just... trying to make you see yourself from my perspective."

Not that she didn't think there was a great deal inside him that was broken and that could do with some healing, but she didn't think she could do that. The only one who could fix Erik was himself.

But someone had to make him want to.

"I don't understand how you can think I'm not a monster. I was designed that way. It's not philosophy; it's an observation."

"If you did what you do because you enjoyed it, then I would think you were a monster."

"I do what I do because it has to be done, but you don't agree with that."

Still he didn't pull away from her touch.

She stepped just a little bit closer to him, keeping hold of his hands as a strange sort of hope fluttered in the pit of her stomach.

"You don't have to agree with people to love them."

"So I'll do what I think is right and you'll do what you think is right and the inevitable betrayal is some sort of collateral damage? How can I trust you now?"

He was asking her. He really, really wanted to know how.

"I don't know."

She wanted to have an answer for him, but the truth was that she didn't.

"I didn't have some sort of plan to hurt and betray you. I just... Had to act."

"I was doing it for you," he told her evenly, clearly making an effort to keep his emotions under control. "And for all of us."

She wondered just what feelings it was that he was keeping such an iron grip on, her own situation rather similar as she struggled to stay calm.

"I know. I can't let you kill people for me, Erik."

"She wanted you dead. She took something from you that's beyond value and she took joy in it and she never wanted you to have it back. She deserved her fate. Now she's still out there and she still knows how the 'cure' worked and she can refine it and she's a danger to all of us because she thinks we're an abomination. She'll destroy us the first chance she gets and you and Charles are the ones who gave her that chance. Why do you think that's right?"

"Because I don't have the right to decide who gets to live or die any more than they do!"

Storm is no saint. She will defend herself when attacked and yes, at times that might involve lethal force but she will do whatever she can to avoid that first.

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