Wake
Logan could have got there faster using a Door, but he drives up in his pickup instead. Gives him more time to think.
After two days of gas station takeout and sleeping in the back of his truck he hits North Dakota, and then it's backroads to the border as civilization disappears in the rearview mirror. Eventually even the forest road he ends up on peters out and he heads in the rest of the way on foot.
It's nearing midday when he finally reaches the coordinates Wade gave him, right at the edge of the forest proper. He looks around, sees nothing at all, then pulls out his phone with a long suffering sigh. The fact it takes him a minute to type out a text message has nothing to do with his age, and everything to do with the screen being too damn small.
-Wade. Where the fuck did you send me.-
The replies he gets back are rapid fire and peppered with an unnecessary amount of emojis.
-PEANUT! Glad you made it-
-I'm so proud of you for taking the first step to finding yourself-
-I left a super helpful map for you in the side pocket of your utility pack cause I know you are ancient and can't open attachments on your phone-
-P.S. packed you some snackys for when you get hangry, you angry lil honey badger you XOXO-
-P.P.S Tell your gross rotting corpse I said hi, and I'm sorry about misusing your skull. JK. Worth it-
They're followed a few seconds later by a dick pic and a picture of Vanessa and Mary Puppins cuddled up on the sofa. Logan deletes the first pic, he can see that any time he wants, but he saves the second one. From the looks of it Wade and Vanessa must be hooking back up again. Good. He likes Vanessa. She's good for Wade. Good for him too when they decide they want some company. Plus he's a sucker for pictures of that stupid dog.
He digs the map out of his pack where Wade's stashed it, begrudgingly popping a few of the fruit snacks his partner's left him in his mouth as he looks it over. Despite the ridiculous illustrations Wade's drawn all over it (including one of a tree chest-fucking a stick figure version of him to death, a visual he could have lived without), the map's solid. For somebody with swish cheese for brains Wade is surprisingly good with directions.
The sky is just starting to darken when he finally reaches the X at the end of Wade's map. He thought it was drawn on there for effect, but as he makes his way down the last knoll before the woods opens back up to marshland he finds an actual X marking the spot. Two branches are lashed together in a sideway cross at the head of a rough heap of stones, and he figures this must be the place.
It's not terribly impressive.
For a man so vitally important that his death damn near wiped out an entire timeline, the guy doesn't even have a headstone. Still, it's probably the best a bunch of scared kids on the run could do, so he figures that's gotta count for something.
Nice spot for it at least. Peaceful. He can hear the trickle of a stream not far off and the night birds are just starting to call out over the marsh the grave overlooks. Smells like wildflowers and pine sap. Could be worse places to end up.
Logan stands there for a moment, trying to think what to say. If it was him in the ground he wouldn't want any fancy speeches, but it doesn't seem right to come all this way to say nothing. After a long while he kneels down, laying a hand on one bar of the crooked cross, his thumb rubbing over the notches in the wood where little claws didn't get it quiet smooth. She'd tried her damnedest though, always did. Then, just like that, he knows exactly what to say. The only thing that ever mattered anyway.
"You did good. She turned out ok". He looks out over the scrub grass, and the silence seems to listen as he repeats; "She turned out ok."
He doesn't realize how lost in his own thoughts he is until the snap of a branch behind him brings him back with a start. He whirls, claws sprung with a growl until he catches sight of who it is.
Kurt.
No matter how many version of Kur Wagner he runs into, it's always a kick to the teeth to see him again, and this time is no different. For a long moment they just stare at each other in shock, the elf clearly just as surprised as he is. But working at the TVA gets you used to Alternates real fast, and after a second Logan snaps out of it enough to take notice of all the ways this is not his Kurt.
Most obviously, this version of Kurt's older than his ever got to be. His Kurt died in his early 30s, but this ones gotta be getting towards 50 from the look of it. His fur's has gone light around his eyes and beard like an old hound, and though he's still got that crazy head of dark curls, there's silver at his temples. But more than that, this Kurt just looks tired like his never lived long enough to be. There's lines on his face Logan doesn't know, and his yellow eyes seem just a little dimmer, like time's wore off some of the shine.
Logan doesn't realize he's still staring until this Kurt breaks the silence with a step forward; "Logan?"
The desperate hope in the other mans voice makes it all the worse as Logan shakes his head;
"Naw. Different timeline. Yours is.."
He gestures back at the cross behind him and realizes he's still got his claws drawn. He draws them in with a *snikt* that sounds loud in the sudden silence.
Kurt is still staring at him like he can't believe what he's seeing, but to his credit he recovers quick enough. Gives Logan a once over of his own and whatever he see must be proof enough of what Logan's saying.
"No.. of course not." he says, voice soft and sad. Some of the accent Logan remembers has faded, but he still sounds like Kurt. They all do, just enough for it to hurt every time.
"If you are from a different timeline, then why are you here?" the other man asks, eyes flicking to the grave and back again.
"Same as you I imagine, paying my respects" Logan says, then knowing that's not what he was asking he shrugs and adds "Long story."
Anyone else and he'd have stopped there, the TVA requires too damn much explanation, but Kurt's still staring at him with that lost, searching expression and something about the elf always has been able to get him talking.
"This timeline needs a Wolverine to keep going. So Deadpool brought me over from mine to replace him.." nods towards the rock cairn ".. after he'd done what he needed to." Saying it out loud it still sounded plenty stupid to him, even after having lived through it all, but Kurt only smiles.
"Always saving the world" he says, like that explains all of it. Before Logan can protest that particular phrasing Kurt spoke up again as he looked back down at the grave.
"So.. he's really gone?"
"'Fraid so." Logan says as Kurt took his place kneeling beside the grave. The elf's still as expressive as he ever was, and the naked grief written on that dark face feels like something Logan's not meant to see.
"I'll let you have some privacy." he says awkwardly as he turns and heads back up to the slope.
If he hears anything said after that he pays no attention, telling himself firmly that it ain't for him. Still, he's glad all the same that this worlds Kurt knows his last rites. The old man deserves that much.
Logan's pulled out his flask by the time the elf comes walking up the ridge again. He hands it over without a word, figuring the situation more than called for a drink. Kurt takes a long swig, then hands it back as he looks across the marshland the ridge overlooks, a few geese passing by loudly on their way to roost for the night.
"So you knew him then?" Kurt asks, those yellow eyes turning his way in the growing twilight shadows.
Logan takes a drink himself and shakes his head.
"Me? No. Never met the guy. Didn't dare." he says, and even now it sounds strange to admit it. His whole life changed by a man he never even got to meet.
"For this timeline to last he had to do what he was here for, get to the end of it Right. Me sticking my nose in things could have fucked it up all over again." he explains as he takes another drink, still not sure how he feels about all that. He's been turning it over in his head the whole drive up, and still can't decide if he's relieved they all made it this far.. or terrified that it's all in his hands now. He's been the worst longer than he's been anything else.
"Only met a handful of the X-men over here, Wade's friends mostly." he goes on; "Me and the others he brought back just did our best to lay low. I joined up with this TVA outfit, protecting other timelines from this sort of fuckery. Kept me busy and out of the way. 'Till now." He glances over at Kurt, and since it doesn't matter where he sticks his nose anymore he can't help but ask;
"So bub, how are You here? If you were an X-men in this timeline why aren't you.." he trails off and Kurt gives a huff and snakes his tail around to steal back the flask. Logan lets him, if only to feel soft fur sliding over his fingers for a moment.
"Dead? We weren't All in Rochester that day" Kurt say and sounds a little bitter, like he's been asked that too many times before.
"I wasn't at the mansion. Jean had sent me out of town to look into some mutant-related unrest. Can't even remember what it was now... but by the time I got back the whole county was a crime scene and the word 'mutant' had become a curse overnight. They wouldn't even let me close."
That's news to Logan. It wasn't like he'd gone looking for the elf, but when he hadn't heard anything on him for fives damn years he'd just assumed he'd been there with the rest.
"Well if you weren't there, where the hell you Been?" he has to ask, taking his flask back. Kurt shot him an exasperated look, so familiar it makes something in Logan's stomach knot up. He ignores the feeling. Never a good idea to mix that short of shit with Alternates. Not his Kurt. No matter how much he looks like him.
"Where have You been?" Kurt shoots back, crossing his arms over his chest against the cold. He's dressed for the weather, but it's still shaping up to be a chilly night. "With no more mutant children being born the public very quickly forgot any tolerance they had for mutantkind. Even before Rochester you rarely saw mutants out in public anymore, let alone the ones that look like I do. And with no children there was no reason to try to re-open the school. It just wasn't needed anymore" those glowing eyes look away, but Logan doesn't need to see him to know how much it hurts him to admit that. Kurt was always one that truly believed in Xaviers dream, it had to have killed him to let it go. He doesn't say anything and Kurt goes on after a moment;
"In the end I went north. There was a mutant settlement up in Canada, a haven for those of us left. Turns out they needed a preacher more than they needed a superhero, so at least there I could be of some use. They'd named it.."
"...Eden." Logan finishes for him, which makes so much sense he doesn't know why he hadn't figured it out sooner. Laura had told him plenty about the place, and it sounded just like something the elf would sign up for.
"Ja, Eden." Kurt confirms with a soft smile as Logan reaches back around to fish a cigar out of his pack.
"So how'd you know to come Here?" He asks as he lights up, the familiar taste always grounding no matter which timeline he's landed in.
Kurt's still smiling as he leans back against one of the sturdy tree trunks at their back, but this time it's a real smile, the kind Logan remembered. Makes him look young again, a little bit of the spirited young man Logan knew peeking through.
"We rarely get newcomers anymore, not with so few of us left, so you can imagine our surprise when a group of children, mutant children no less, came across the border to join us. It was truly a miracle. We did not really believe it until we saw them with our own eyes. Children. After so long.." the look on his face is pure awe, and Logan thinks he's missed more than he thought all these years he's been off patrolling timelines with Wade. More shit's changed here than he ever realized.
Kurt is looking back out over the darkening marsh again as he continues, and Logan could almost believe the shine in those yellow eyes is just their usual glow if not for the way the elfs voice catches as he continues. "And then, just as soon as they arrive, I am told that a little girl, a very stubborn little girl who will not be told to wait, is demanding to see someone who knows the words to pray. So I see her, and I see at once who she must be, and she tells me that her father is dead."
There ain't much Logan can say to that. He just hands the last of his flask over without a word, and together they watch the last of the light fade behind the tree line, streaking red across the sky before disappearing past the horizon.
They walk back through the forest together, as both Wade and Laura's directions brought them in at about the same point. They talk about Laura, Kurt letting Logan know she's fitting in just fine in her new home, and Logan assuring him what a fine woman she'll grow into someday. It's a weird conversation to be having, but it feels good, a little bit of hope after one hell of a day. They reach Logan's truck first, and Logan starts it to warm up, debating if he should offer Kurt a ride to his own vehicle. It's fucking freezing out, and part of him wants more than anything to keep whatever this is going, but the rest of him knows it's best not to try and keep hold of something that ain't his. He lets out a breath and turns back, trying to think of a goodbye he doesn't want to say.
"Well elf, guess I'll.."
"I tried to find him you know." Kurt says abruptly, cutting him off before he can get any further.
Logan doesn't know, and he feels like even more of an ass for not knowing more about this timelines X-men, for running for so long, but the elf is looking at him like he Needs him to understand, so he just nods. That seems to be enough and Kurt barrels on, a hint of desperation in his hurried words.
"For months I tried to track him down. But he would never let any of us get close. And I know why he left, he had to, he was the only one that could, I understood that, but I just .. he shouldn't have had to do it alone" he finishes, and even if Logan can't see his face as well in the dark he can hear the anguish plain in his voice.
He doesn't know what to do, or say, he's never good with shit like this, so he settles for reaching over, giving the elfs shoulders a squeeze. Something solid the other man can feel is real.
"He knew" he says, because it's gotta be the truth. Kurt would never abandon him, ever, in any timeline.
Instead of an answer Logan finds himself suddenly knocked a step backwards as the elf surges against him, arms wrapped around him in a desperate embrace. His face is damp against Logan's neck and his voice sounds broken as he rasps out;
"I'm sorry I wasn't there"
Logan means to say something reassuring, that his Logan knew, that it wasn't Kurt's fault, but he surprises himself when instead he closes his own arms around that shaking frame and chokes out;
"Me too Elf, me too."
They stand like that for what feels like a long time, both of them mourning the men they've lost, before they finally break apart, taking an awkward step back and trying to play off something neither of them was prepared to find in a cold patch of Canadian wilderness.
Kurt clears his throat, raking a hand back through his curls and flashing Logan an embarrassed smile.
"My apologies." he says, tail giving a nervous sway behind him that Logan could read a mile off. "I don't know what came over me, it has just been a very Very long day. And you are truly the last face I expected to see."
Logan huffs a laugh. "Yeah, no shit" he agrees as he shrugs his jacket up a little further, cold as fuck but feeling lighter somehow. Good even. It makes him reckless and before he can think again of all the reasons not to he pipes up;
"Hey. It's fucking freezing out here and we both got way too far too go, you wanna grab a cup of coffee before you take off? I saw a diner couple towns back that looked like an all nighter."
For a second Kurt looks just as hesitant as Logan had first been to this idea, but then he chuckles and shrugs. "Why not. But by the time we reach it, it will be morning" he points out and goes to step around to the passenger side of the truck. Logan reaches out to catch his wrist, solid and warm and Real in his hand.
"Oh no, not the way we're getting there" he says with a grin as he reaches into his pocket for his TemPad. Shoots Kurt a wink and adds, "Perk of the job" as he keys up their destination and a Door flickers into life in front of them. Kurt's grin in the shinning gold light is just about the best thing he's seen in ages and he laughs again as he leads the way through.
"Come on elf. Lets go."