a christmas gift for my loverly angel who requested an X-men fic!!
first time writing for this fandom so i hope you love it!
Title: Is it Worth it?
Fandom: X-Men
Pairing: Storm/Wolverine
With the stars overhead, and the soft grass waving between her toes, it was hard to believe that they were in the middle of a war zone. The night was cool, a breeze making the branches of the sparse trees sway, as if they were dancing. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She didn’t know what peace truly was. But this was pretty damn close.
Ororo sat with her legs splayed a good distance away from the Blackbird. She looked up into the sky and sighed. Another battle fought, another riot prevented, some more lives saved.
Was it worth it?
Was it worth the constant fighting? The fear that when her and her teammates walked into the battlefield for the umpteenth time, that she wouldn’t come back out? That they wouldn’t come back out?
Was it worth the look of abject terror on the civilian’s faces when they flew into their home village or town? Even though they were there to protect them, to save them, the looks mothers gave her team when they scooped their children into their arms when they walked by still hurt. It hurt a lot.
Ororo slowly drew up her legs, wrapping her arms around them and laying her head between her knees.
Were these battles they were raging the right thing to do? Was the war that they refused to lose beneficial for humanity?
Absolutely.
But was it worth it?
Some days, she dreamed of quitting. Of going back to her home village and leaving the X-Men and all of their gore and violence behind.
Some days, she dreamed of the life she could have lived, a family she could have had, relationships she could have forged.
Some days, especially on days where she returns from a particularly gruesome battle, she dreams of a life of peace.
Sitting in the middle of a peaceful forest, she wonders.
Is it worth it?
The crunch of twigs behind her broke her from her daydream. She lifted her head to see her friend shuffling his way over.
“Miss Ororo Munroe. What’s going on?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary, Logan,” she smiled as the gruff man took a seat on the grass next to her.
“Brooding after a mission isn’t ‘out of the ordinary’?”
“Who’s brooding?”
“Don’t bullshit me, ‘Ro,” he sighed, shaking his head. “I know you. I know something’s been going on. You didn’t say a damn thing the entire ride here. Near ‘bout everyone has caught on.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, choosing her next words carefully. “Logan, do you ever feel tired?”
“Jesus Christ, if all you needed was a nap -”
“No, not that. Tired of this war, tired of the fighting, of the suffering and dying. Do you ever feel tired of that?” Ororo snapped.
Frustratingly enough, Logan remained calm. “Sometimes.”
“And you never have wanted to do anything about it?”
“I never said that,” he replied softly. Ororo drew in a startled breath at those words. “’Ro, don’t look at me like that, we all do!” He cleared his throat and went on. “We all get tired of the fighting sometimes, of the non-stop battles. We all wish sometimes that we lived a life of peace where we could do what we want.” He picked up his hand and let it trace on the back of Ororo’s hand. “With who we want.” A blush creeped up both their faces with those words.
“But we realize that hell, this is the way it is, this is the way it’s got to be. If we all just stepped down, God knows what would happen to this place. So we keep fighting- ”
“So that others can lead the life that we wish to.” Ororo cut in, intertwining her fingers with Logan’s.
“Yeah,” Logan gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Exactly that.” They waited in comfortable silence for a bit until a chuckle erupted from Logan’s chest. “Look at you. Making me go all soft.” Ororo laughed, and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I like being the only one able to do that.” Logan huffed, trying to hide his nervousness. He slowly lowered his head down and placed a brief kiss on her lips.
I know you do.”
And as the night fell around them, the two tangled up in each other’s arms, Ororo, Storm, let her mind wander again.
