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karimac · 30 days ago

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...winterlong, Part 1

A/N: This is a sister series to "...in the details" and "Turn of the Wheel" and involves one of the "shards" of Kari MacOrish that was cast to the multiverse by Merlin in the days after the fall of Camelot.

Warning for this series: 18+ audience (minors DNI), some cinematic level violence, some fluff and angst. Doubt that smut will be involved, but it may be implied. I’ll make sure that is noted clearly if it pops up.

All relationships, at this point anyway, are platonic, but I cannot keep a certain redhead away from a certain hirsute Canadian badass with claws.

Please do not repost or translate my work. Likes, comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated.

All mistakes are my own.

Word count: approx. 2100

You woke up with a splitting headache again, and you could only surmise that somewhere in this damnable Void someone had crash landed who was, at the very least, familiar to you.

Peachy.

That’s why someone was banging on the door of your home in the middle of hell at this hour of the morning.

“Just a minute! Let me get decent,” you shouted as you pulled a hooded cloak over yourself and went to your door. Door. That term was a very loose one in these parts.

And to be honest, you were fully clothed. You just didn’t want your visitor seeing the Hello Kitty pajamas you had scrounged during one of your raids to find food and what passed for booze in this place.

Before you actually got your grip on the handle, you looked down at your feet and saw a large pile of empty bottles, the remnants of several recent raids. “Really need to see if Remy can finagle me some better liquor,” you said under your breath as you waved your hand and the bottles were now moved under a table closer to what passed as your kitchen in this hellscape. The pile of dirty dishes was a dead giveaway. “OK, what is so damned important?” you said as you finally opened the door. “Oh. Sorry. I was expecting someone less pleasant.”

“Sorry if I woke you up,” Laura said as she came just inside the doorway, looking over her shoulder at a beat-up Honda Odyssey that was sitting just outside before she spoke again. Her own clothes had seen better days, but the Savage t-shirt was a nice touch. You had promised to fix her boots if needed, but she hadn’t called in the favor just yet. “I need some help,” she said as she went back to the car and opened the hatch. You really didn’t need this sort of thing right now, but Laura was more than just another refugee in this wasteland. She was Logan’s daughter. Didn’t matter which Logan. You owed it to yours to make sure she survived. He’d always wanted a child. Just not with you.

“Shit. Where did you find these two?” you asked as you saw one person in red and black literally strapped down in seat belts “Yet another Deadpool? Great,” you muttered while you looked at the other one to the left of the cargo area. A small gasp left your lips, and you wanted to kick yourself for it as you stood there gawking. “Logan? What the fuck?”

“My thoughts, too,” Laura said as she opened the front passenger-side door for you. “Can you help me get them into our base? Everyone else is out on patrols.”

“Sure,” you said as you tapped the side of the Hello Kitty pajamas under your cloak and felt them transform into your armor. You were not about to risk letting either of these men—you thought they were both men anyway—take you out with a well-placed blade. “And I’ll stick around in case this one needs healing,” you said as you pointed to the strapped-down form in the back. “Or a good kick to the head.”

The Honda Odyssey stunk of flesh and blood as it rolled down the wooded back roads to the base. Once you and Laura got them inside, the two of you waited outside to explain the situation to the others upon their return. Blade, Elektra and Gambit were not thrilled. The Human Torch was still MIA, and that did not sit well with anyone.

You finally heard the two new arrivals talking inside, and you let the others go in to talk to them before you walked in. You had a lot of history with way too many Logans. This could go south fast.

Then you heard Remy talking about his liquor, and Logan was being, well, Logan.

“Monsieur LeBeau is right,” you said as you finally walked inside. “You really should ask first.”

If the light Irish lilt had not alerted Logan of who you were by now, the dropping of your hood made it plain that you were, indeed, at least in some world where he may have walked, an X-Man teammate.

But the red tresses that were now slowly making their way to a full mane of silver and grey? That likely was a new wrinkle. You really had no call to keep up appearances anymore, so you had let your hair go a more natural color route. It was still red enough for your liking. It just had a bit more character. Your sisters would have yelled at you for not using a little magic to keep that youthful look. Then again, they were all dead now, and none had had the pleasure of living in The Void.

“President Coin?” Deadpool asked as you stood there and glared at him. “Where’s Katniss?”

“Hunger Games? You had that in your world, too?” you asked as you looked at this new Wilson and laughed. “It’s all fun and games until you have to be part of it. Trust me.”

{{And her name was Jasmine. Jasmine Elizabeth O'Malley. I’d never name my daughter Katniss}} you thought as you kept staring at Deadpool. {{A delicate name for a soul forged in fire for sure. Wait. Not my girl. The other one. Down the spiral. The one who lost her son to that madman geneticist. Focus}}

Your age or your present physical condition or some other part of you butting in at the wrong moment sent all sorts of information crashing into your brain. Your children who were not your children. This really did suck.

And you had no clue about how to interact with this Wolverine. Friend? Lover? Ex? There was no telling yet what his story was, so you just took the leap of faith you absolutely hated and asked him about what you were to him in his world. More or less anyway.

“Whatever I did in your world, I’m sorry if it was more pain than balm. I hope, at the very least, I was a kind presence in your life and not a nightmare.”

“Very kind,” Logan said under his breath. “And damned confusing at the end. Wade, she’s fine. No funny business.”

Wade. Oh good. You might be able to reason with him. The female variants were not always easy to figure out or deal with. The one with the twin uzis was beyond annoying.

“I figured as much when you didn’t run over and stab me,” you replied as you turned back to the others. By now Deadpool was fomenting a plan to get himself and Logan back to wherever Wade hung his hat. It involved Cassandra Nova, Juggernaut’s helmet and evading Alioth.

Oh, what a cracking plan indeed! It sounded like it came out of a Wallace and Gromit movie or was something The Rock planned to star in between wrestling stints. Rescue Santa, save Christmas! Disable Cassandra, save Wade’s home world! It was plain to see Logan had his doubts as he wandered outside with a new bottle of Remy’s booze, Laura close on his heels.

“He is not buying it,” you said to Blade as he looked past you to Laura and Logan outside.

“Then convince him,” the dhampir suggested as you flexed your hands and tried not to cry or laugh. “He apparently knows you. Maybe you can make him see reason?”

“You think I can convince Himself to follow us into this? Blade, you are a wise man, but this one, I am afraid, might be out of our reach. I could go out there on Samhain and stand naked with fire dancing behind me, and he would likely say I’m crazy and walk away. And to be honest, I would not blame the man. I’m not from his world. He really doesn’t know me from Adam.”

Himself. Goddess. You had not used that phrase about Logan since he pledged his life to Jean. That was how long ago? 20 years? Less? More? The Void had a way of making time less friend and more foe. So did your advancing years, damn it all. If you saw Merlin now, you’d punch him in the nose for all the grief his plan had visited upon you since he cast that stupid spell.

“May I?” you asked Gambit as you pointed to one of his lesser bottles of whiskey that was sitting in a crate near the door. He nodded, and you snapped it up before you headed outside. It was then that you heard Laura saying something to Logan that you hoped would sway him to the cause, but even you had your doubts this would work.

“You were always the wrong guy. Until you weren’t.”

“Remy said I could bring one out,” you said as you held up the bottle before you walked toward Logan. “Laura, you may want to talk to Blade about the Juggernaut issue,” you said as you handed Logan the bottle and stood looking at him. “I know. The plan sounds insane. You don’t give a crap about any of us or much of anything else. But, if you really don’t see yourself going into this fight, please don’t get her hopes up. With the exception of fixing Wade’s world by being its new anchor, I can stand in your spot and fight. Then I can get everyone staying here away from Alioth. Or I’ll die trying.”

The warmth of the fire was heavenly as you watched Logan slam back the whiskey. You’d have sat down, but you knew he likely did not want any company. “Whatever I may or may not have meant to you, please reconsider. They all could very well die without you in this fight. I don’t give a crap if I do anymore, but I won’t let them fall. The Logan from my world would hate me if I did not give it my all, may his soul rest with the angels.”

“Look, Kari, I’m not him. I’m actually the worst Wolverine by everyone’s measure. And that’s one name I’m not going to be able to shake.”

“And the Logan I knew laughed at me when I said pretty much the same thing to him one day. About being the worst possible me there ever was. Before things went off the rails, he was my biggest cheerleader. At least at the end he still considered me his friend. I’m grateful for that, even if I wanted more.”

Logan nodded as a small piece inside you hoped he’d ask about your past. Nope. He just kept necking that whiskey.

You looked back at the base and then to Logan again before you went back inside. He was long past giving a shit about what you thought. So be it.

“So, did you get my peanut there to listen?” Deadpool asked as you shrugged your shoulders and walked past him. “Never mind then. Can you do something that evens the odds a bit? You know. A little Defying Gravity crossed with the blitz on London?”

“I’ll fill his spot in the fight and make sure you get home, and then I’ll get everyone away from Alioth. Same promise I made to Wolverine. Or I’ll die trying.”

“Oh. You don’t think this will work, do you? Your face says it all. Is this an X-Man thing? If it isn’t from Cyclops you won’t support it?”

“I do not give a rat’s ass about Scott Summers and his vaunted ability to make battle plans—in this world or any other,” you scoffed as you stared at Deadpool. “I’m 1,500 years old, and I have fought in more battles across more timelines than any of you can possibly imagine. That man out there meant more to me than anyone else, especially Scott Summers, in a few of those timelines. If he was gung-ho for your plan, I’d feel better. I’ll pray he changes his mind. And I’ll make every contingency plan I can to get my jobs done. I won’t let you down.”

Deadpool seemed to not believe you, and you wanted nothing more than to pull a magical rabbit out of your cloak, but you needed to conserve whatever power you had. Not being in daily battles left your reserves a bit depleted. You thrived on the hum of war, but only one person there might have understood that, and he was likely not going to be at your side in this fight.

“Don’t go fucking around with a goddess,” Remy said to Wade as you went to find a corner to bed down in for the night. “She’s as close as we got to one, mon ami, and that might be the difference now that Monsieur Serval gonna hide like a coward.”

Logan, in any world, was not a coward. You knew that much. You also knew he needed time to figure things out. By daylight, you hoped he’d have gotten this sorted.

Next time: The battle at Nova's fortress and the fight on Earth-10005 take center stage

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