#stalkerthroughtime

[mxtantmessiah]

Setting Sail, Coming Home

Nathan looks so peaceful when he sleeps. I like when he's peaceful. It reminds me of New Liberty. Of home.

It seems so long ago now that we actually had a family life. I was little, so I can't remember everything, but I do remember that I was happy. I can't remember many other times when I was happy, except for maybe at the Academy. Deep down inside, I'd known from the start that we would have to go at some point, though. I had never allowed myself to be completely happy. Even so, I miss it. I miss being around people who seem to really care about me. Who don't treat me like a pawn on a chess board. Who don't want to exterminate me. Sure, Nathan gives me all the love he can muster, but he's been so bitter since mom died. As if to say “She can't hug you, so I won't either”. I watch him sleep and think of happier times.

Dawn breaks, harsher than it should. I almost groan inwardly at the rising sun, not ready to wake up Nathan yet. But I have to. We've been stuck in one place for far too long. We have to go. But first? First I need to talk to him.

I've had hours of silence to think for myself. About the way things are. About the bond between me and Nathan. He's protected me since I was a little baby. Now we're a team. I still can't fully grasp the concept of it, but he seems to have a lot of faith in me. Just yesterday, he took a bullet for me. He takes loads of bullets for me. Goes without food for me. Gives the last swallow of his water to me. Stays up all night to watch over me. It took me a long time to figure out why he'd do this. And then I saw it. That one moment, his reflection in the window when he thought I wasn't looking, his face when he told me he'd known his purpose the moment he first held me. He has faith in me. And I want nothing more but to make him proud.

At this point, I'm not sure if I'm ready. I haven't felt anything to tell me this, I haven't had a turnpoint in my life that has made me ready. I'm not sure if I'm ready to be the Mutant Messiah, to fulfill everyone's hopes and save mutant kind.

But I know one thing.

I'm ready to go back.

~*~

Hope's thoughts drifted with the wind as she looked out over the horizon, her hair dancing wildly around her head. It vaguely resembled flames licking at her skin, except the flames wouldn't hurt her. Flames had never hurt her before. They had given her strength to go on. Warmth. A small smile broke through on her expression, the first smile she'd shown since Cable's revelations at the campfire, even though she couldn't quite grasp the concept of what he was telling her. She lowered herself to sit beside him, to just look at him for a long while. He had been so tired lately. He needed all the rest he could get, even if he was too stubborn to get it. When finally the sun had reached peak point for the morning, Hope woke him in her regular, soft voice.

“Nathan?”

Usually, she'd tell him it was time to go. Not this time. This time, she had to talk to him before they left, before they'd be on the move again. Make sure he'd actually listen.

“I...can we talk?”

[mxtantmessiah]

It's Okay, I'm Going Home Now

Hope's nimble feet left a trail footsteps in the dark sand of the beach they had found refuge at. It was one of the few places they had come across that had actually still had decent water, despite all the things that washed up on the shore. Debris, mostly, dead fish sometimes. But if they cooked the water, it was decent enough for them to drink. The waves washed over her feet, and she turned around to watch her footsteps as they faded away. Her path had been awfully long for a child her age, her footsteps seemed so meaningless. She felt like her entire life, she had just been trudging along the tide, constantly trying not to get pulled in by the undertow, watching a tidal wave of misery wash the footsteps of her memories away behind her. Sometimes, she pictured herself to be a stowaway on an abandoned ship. Just drifting. Drifting and hoping that some day, she would finally remember how to man the ship.

She was sixteen now. Not a girl anymore, but she hadn't by far reached adulthood. Her powers had manifested once, in the form of her stopping Bishop's bullet, and for a short while, it had given her hope for the future. And then nothing. She felt remarkably useless. She unclasped the cloak around her neck and dried off her feet with it before stepping back into her boots. Smoke rose from the campfire that Nathan had set up for the night, and she smiled. Whenever he set up camp, it felt a little like home to her. The closest thing to home she had ever felt...except for maybe her time at the Academy. But she couldn't reminisce about that now. It was too painful.

She sat down next to Cable, and for a long while, she did nothing but stare into the flames, the deep red of it reflecting sparks of fiery light in her eyes. She enjoyed watching the flames. She felt a certain familiarity with them, as if there was some sort of connection. Of course, she had never mentioned it to Nathan, since he would be likely to draw unnecessary conclusions from it. It was nothing.

Her gaze shifted to Nathan. He was staring into the fire, just as she had done only seconds ago. They really were two of a kind. It was to be expected, considering the fact that they had only ever been together ever since she was born, despite a few minor exceptions. His techno-organic arm glowed in the faint light that the fire casted on them, and it appeared warm, so she leaned her head against it. It didn't feel as natural as an arm made of flesh and bone, but she'd come to accept the feeling by now. An involuntary sigh escaped from her lips as she mulled things over in her head. She wanted to ask him so many questions, yet she had no idea where to start.

“...Nathan...?”

She waited for a long moment, but the only response he gave her was a short flick of the eyes in her direction. Of course he'd know she was going to be inquisitive again. That this would be a difficult conversation. But she had to ask.

“How will I know when I'm ready?”

[mxtantmessiah]

Time Forgets

Colours change. Buildings decay. People die. Bullets rain down like a vast carpet of lead. In another life, in some abstract way, perhaps a person could have found this interesting. Artistic. The colours on the horizon were painted across the sky like a dark, post-apocalyptic Aurora Borealis. It was beautiful, and yet obscene. Putrid. This vague form of abstract art that threw a sickening melange of colours all over the earth? This was the ruining of a child's life. The harshness of the decay of the world, combined with innocence long gone. This was reality in all it's cruel ways.

Hope had shed her duckling feathers now. She couldn't remember how long they'd been on the run for, but they hadn't stopped doing so for years. No attachments anymore. It was better this way. She was less naive now, or at least not naive enough to think she could make friends and keep them. She had no idea how her friends back in 2011 were doing, but if the future thirty-three years later would look like this for them, she was desperate to change it for them. If she could. Her powers still hadn't shown sign of development, and thus she mostly relied on her marksmanskills and survival tactics that Nathan had taught her. It worked. Bishop had found them a few times, but they had managed to get away from him well within time every single occasion. She was beginning to have faith in herself. Faith in the fact that she would eventually be ready to return and join the X-Men for her true purpose. Saving the mutant race.

The fire roared high, thick, black smoke rising up in the air, and Hope pulled the piece of weathered cloth that was tied around her neck up over her mouth and nose to filter out the polluted air, letting out a relieved sigh as the burning sensation in her lungs and throat lessened. She held out gloved hands, the fingertips cold as they were sticking out of the fingerless gloves, but soon the fire filled her with warmth. She could feel the life returning to her, her energy replenished after a few hours of sleep. It was her watch, Nathan's turn to sleep now. She took a glance over her shoulder, emerald eyes locking onto the sleeping form of the old man. Even in his sleep, his face was strained with worry. Then again, so was hers nowadays. She wasn't a child anymore. She was a young woman now. She'd traded in her blue-and-yellow jumpsuit for a tight-fit green-and-yellow one, something she'd been looking forward to from the day she'd found out she would have one of those in the future. It meant another step towards her becoming an X-Man. Another step towards making Nathan proud.

When dawn arrived, she rose to her feet, stretching out, then leaning forward to touch her toes, a habit she repeated whenever she'd been seated for a prolongued period of time, just to ensure her blood flow would be up and running correctly again within no time. Then she made her way over to Nathan, gently touching her fingers to his shoulder, accompanied by a soft whispering of his name. It was ironical how much she sounded like her adoptive mother nowadays, considering the fact that they weren't blood-related. But she did, especially when speaking his name, even though she didn't realise all of this herself. When Nathan didn't respond immediately, she shook him gently, careful not to startle him in his sleep, since it had occurred on more than one occasion that he'd pointed a gun or a knife at her. She didn't want to die just yet, especially not by the hands of her father.

"Nathan. It's dawn. Time to go."

[mxtantmessiah]

Don't Forget Me, I Beg~

Dim morning sunlight caught on the golden locket around Hope's neck, reflecting into various directions of the small cave her and Cable had hidden in for the night. She knew she wasn't supposed to be wearing it, but...she simply couldn't part from it. Aside from that, she mostly kept it well-hidden under her cloak, sheltered from the sun and wary eyes. Dirty fingers pried it open, smudging the shimmering surface of the sides of the locket, and a single tear fell into it. She quickly brushed it away, but the image had already reacted to the salty liquid substance, curling at the side. Remy's smile looked rather eerie from this angle. But still, it brought a smile to the redhead's face.

Her fingers lifted the picture, pulling out a few smaller ones from under it, and her wry smile tugged her lips up even further. Jokingly, she'd cut out Kitty's picture and made a small hole in Jubilee and Laura's pictures, then put Kitty's hands through them, as if she were phasing. There were so many pictures she'd wanted to put in her locket, but there simply wasn't enough room. However, every time she looked at these pictures, memories of all of them spilled back into her head. Every single one of them.

It had been weeks now, and she'd kept her faithful promise. She'd written every single letter she said she would write, even though they would very likely never reach the people she'd written them to. Whenever she would run out of paper and ink, she'd use fabrics and dirt, so part of the inside of her cloak was covered in writings. Then one day Nathan insisted she'd wash it all off for fear of her getting ill. She had protested, even though she knew deep down inside he was right. He'd thrown her cloak into the water and she watched in horrified silence as all of the meaningful words she'd written down for her friends, all of her documented memories, washed away with the stream. It was right there and then that she realised it was the perfect metaphor for her life. A stream, washing the memories away. Nathan considered them unnecessary weight and a potential threat. She considered them the most valuable non-material possession she carried with her. Friends. Memories.

Nathan stirred from his sleep, and Hope closed the locket, staring out at the filthy horizon ahead of them. They had to go again. It had become like a morning ritual to her now. They hadn't stayed at the same place for more than a few hours ever since they had left the Westchester Institute. The Earth was different now, so they had discovered. Polluted. Darkened. Infested with large, mutated rats. Dying. Like everything else around her, so Hope thought, now the Earth was dying. She wanted nothing better than to get away from this timeline, but for now, they were safe here. Until Bishop would find them again, which had proven to be inevitable.

She took a glance at Nathan and stretched out an arm to him as he sat up, offering him a piece of bread. The last piece. But she didn't mention that. He hadn't eaten in days, and it was beginning to show. He'd give up his food down to the last crumb, his drink to the last drop, all so she could stay healthy, but frankly, she really wasn't hungry. Not when she took a second glance at his face. He'd lost weight, from travelling, from eating less. He was beginning to look a little sickly, even though he was the strongest man she knew. She wouldn't have it.

"Eat up, soldier!"

Her voice sounded remarkably cheerful for the mood she was in. She'd forced it, of course, to brighten his mood a little, too. She could only hope it would work. It was hard, but she'd gladly put the effort into it if it helped cheer up Nathan.

[voiceofhumanity-blog]

stalkerthroughtime started following you

A Mutant with a wish to kill another Mutant

Perhaps you could be of use.

[xsapphirex]

stalkerthroughtime and bruce-banner started following you

Hi, I'm Saph.