E C L I P S E

There was a lightness that came with being on Genosha that Lorna hadn’t expected, as the constant concern for the world outside that hated them faded enough to remove some weight off of her. They could be safe here – that was all she’d ever really wanted. It came with new obstacles and changing aspects of her life, ones that would take her longer to adjust to. Who she was and her place here wasn’t a secret, and the locals that were grateful to her father for giving them sanctuary and hailed him as a king, looked to her as well. She didn’t consider herself someone others should look up to – but she couldn’t deny the sense of responsibility she felt either.

Right now, though, Lorna was focused on spending time with her daughter. Time was going by too fast and Dawn would be a year old before they knew it. She was already beginning to move around – not quite walking yet but clearly wanting to, and Lorna tried to encourage her by moving the toys around the room to attempt going after. 

Her attention lifted to find Marcos making his way into the room and there’s a sense of relief in her smile. They ended up here, safe, and together. Despite the mistakes and hell they’d gone through to get there, it seemed worth it in that moment. “Hey.” She offered in return, meeting the kiss before nodding. “We did… and before you know it, we’re going to have to start doing the same thing to her clothes.” Lorna pointed out with a small laugh as she considered the prospect of everything Dawn would get into once she was walking around. Her body turned in his arms to rest her back against his chest, carefully as she reminded herself of the stitches in the back of her shoulder. Her hands rested over his and she tilted her head back to look up at him, knowing all the hell they’d gone through lately and hadn’t had the chance to talk much about. “How are you doing with everything?”

Marcos let out a soft sigh as he held Lorna in his arms, mindful of the injury she sustained from their rocky arrival to the island. He had said it several times and knew it in his heart that Lorna Dane was more than capable of handling herself but, it still never eased his endless worrying. It also didn’t help knowing that her powers were growing and the only thing he could do was nag her on being careful when exploring her new capabilities.

“Her clothes?” He chuckled at the thought placed into his head, concocting an image of Dawn wearing clothes that would allow Lorna to easily control their soon-to-be adventurous child. “Now, if she started coming into her powers and started flying away out of no where, that’s when I would be really worried.” It was too soon to tell if she would even have powers but, Marcos could safely assume that she would.

“I’m doing fine.” He shrugged at the question at hand. “I think Erik purposely gave us the room with a view of his statue on purpose. I don’t know if I’ve told you this but, I don’t think he exactly likes me. Not that I like him either because I don’t.” 

Marcos appreciated the light hearted moments life gave him. There weren’t many and a few of them were missed due to unseen circumstances. He missed out on Dawn’s birth, something the Frost clones would never let him live down. There were also the first few months of his daughter’s life and god knows what he missed in that short time span. 

But this moment wasn’t a missed moment. He made sure he wasn’t going to miss anymore. He leaned against the door frame, a bright smile on his face as he took in the scene. It filled his heart with joy to see Dawn giggling as Lorna moved the toy wagon filled with stuffed animals around the room with her abilities. This moment was one he would cherish.  And it wasn’t too long ago when this moment was far from his reach. When Lorna and Dawn were gone. When the two of them were near impossible to find. 

Despite being stuck on Erik’s scrapyard, Marcos was content. He was happy to simply be living in the moment with his family and not worry about their next plan to aid mutantkind. His family came first and this moment was a nice reminder.

“Hey.” He finally spoke up after a few moments of just standing against the door frame, making his way over to Lorna and pressing a kiss to her lips. “I think we did good lining most of her new toys with metal.” He said as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Is something funny?” Erik said sharply, as the boy – granted, he was a full fledged adult, but these children were all so young in Erik’s eyes – started laughing. “At least I work.” His eyes narrowed as Marcos brought up leaving Lorna with her aunt, and his temper flared, vicious and violent. “You know nothing,” he said, advancing on him, nearby metal starting to hum and vibrate in response to his anger. “I left Lorna there for her safety. I watched over her from a distance.

“You speak boldly, but you abandoned her – and you left her with child. And now that we have returned from the Stone, you suddenly return to – what, try so hard to be Father of the Year?” 

He snarled, and metal screeched. “I was fighting a greater war and preparing Genosha as a sanctuary for safety for all mutants. Creating a place - no, a world where my granddaughter could grow up in peace, where she would not have to be ripped from her parents just to survive.”

“Do not speak to me of abandonment or duty. Not when you have done nothing for mutantkind.” 

“Fuck you.” Marcos spoke through grinding teeth. He was mad. Enraged. He gave no shits if this man was supposed to be Dawn’s grandfather or Lorna’s father. No one-- especially Erik Lehnsherr-- was allowed to tell him that he abandoned his family. That he was never trying. That he was a monster like his own father to abandon his family.

His hands were already glowing through the surface of his skin, clenching them into fists to prevent him from blasting Erik. “You don’t know anything about me, you piece of shit. I didn’t abandon them. I never wanted to lose them. Did you think I wanted to be a fuck up like you? Become someone that their kids would hate?”

“Fuck you. Don’t you fucking use Dawn as an excuse for you to start your wars with humankind and never refer to Dawn as your granddaughter.” His blood was boiling and it was already evident with the light showing through his veins.

“I never did anything for mutants? You clearly never cared enough to continue ‘watching Lorna from a distance’ because if you did, you would know about her work in the Mutant Underground. Our work in the Underground. Rescuing the mutants you were supposedly preparing a Sanctuary for. While you had this island, Lorna and I lived in an abandoned bank where we ‘lived out the dream of the X-Men’ to protect mutants.” 

“So don’t you fucking dare say I never did anything for mutantkind, asshole.”

Settling into Genosha was something he didn’t think would happen. Well, if we’re gonna go there, nor did he ever think he’d just casually blurt out to Erik that he was his father, more so call him dad. Maybe it was the heat of the moment of thinking he was forever going to be stuck on that island and die there because of all the smoke he was inhaling. Maybe it was seeing Wanda injured and not wanting to lose a family member that he had accidentally expressed his care for another one from the family, one who didn’t even know they were family.

Thankfully something good had came out of what had happened. Marcos, finally getting to meet Dawn’s father. Lorna and Dawn, though he barely get to see, were two figures that though are new to his life, are also very integral parts of who Pietro is now. He’s a brother, to another powerful woman, and an uncle to the cutest baby on Earth.

Which was why he finds himself in this situation, completely scared of getting his face blasted, but he’s glad that Marcos recognizes him before anything drastic happens and he gives a relieved grin. His eyes were still adjusting, and they’re closed when he talks.

“Sup Marcos? Just saw you walking with Dawn and god damn am I ever gonna see again?”

“Give it a few seconds and you should be fine.” Marcos knew how bright his lights needed to be to merely stun someone and not permanently blind them. Blinding someone was something he tried to avoid at any cost. He unlocked the brakes on Dawn’s stroller so that he could place his hands on the stroller where he shouldn’t be able to blind the next person the instant they get within his space.

“Just because you may be Lorna’s half-brother and I guess Dawn’s uncle that doesn’t mean you can try and sneak up on me like that.” He shrugged, offering a hand to help up Pietro. “After everything that had happened, you can’t blame me for being on edge.” He had just lost Dawn in the worst nightmare of his life, he wasn’t risking anything.

But even knowing that it was just a nightmare didn’t ease his tense body as he pushed the stroller through the surprisingly peaceful park. His fingers itched anxiously, prepared to shoot lasers out the moment he felt the slightest instance that things were going south.

At the sound of fast footsteps approaching him, he locked the stroller in place with his foot and his hands were immediately raised up to face their direction, shining a bright light to momentarily blind them. Getting a better look at the other, he chuckled and shook his head in disbelief at the person he stunned.

“Pietro? Sorry about that.”

@thxsilvxrlining

The moment that the father broke free and blasted a beam of light at the soldiers, Steve immediately raised his arm to shield his own face before turning on the stunned men and taking them down. A rage-fueled yell escaped his throat as he punched them down into the dirt, straddling one of them and repeatedly attacking him - realizing he was the one who had murdered the child.

Stopping just before bringing the soldier his own death and turning to make sure the other men were knocked out, he slowly got back up and turned towards the father, standing silently as he watched the very personal and very saddened moment. Tightening his lips into a thin line, he moved away to give him some privacy, looking to check and see if any of them had escaped.

Shit, one missing.

Turning back to the man, Steve approached him carefully, his hands raised up calmly, to show he meant no harm. “Hey,” he whispered, swallowing thickly and shoving down his own emotions. “I’m sorry, I’m– there’s no words to express what just happened, but we have to move, we can’t stay here, there will be more coming.”Steve extended his hand to help the man up, “I’m Steve.”

Marcos was hurting. He also wanted to throw up. He felt sick. He wanted to pound on the ground to wake up from what felt like a nightmare. There was also an indescribable numbing pain that ran through out his body. And despite all the light coursing through him and surging through his hands, he also felt ice cold, only feeling the warm tears that fell down his cheeks.

He had completely forgotten about the stranger that came to help him until he made his presence known. A part of Marcos didn’t want to turn to make sure it was the man who helped him. A part of him wanted to remain on the ground so that they could finish their job. Take him away like they did Dawn.

But he couldn’t ignore the hand that came into his peripheral vision. “Marcos.” He introduced himself. Sniffling away tears that threatened to fall, he took the other’s hand and pulled himself up with Dawn in his other arm. There was something about the other that felt familiar. He just couldn’t quite pinpoint it at the moment.

“I--” want to stay here. Just leave me here. He stopped himself because he needed to tell Lorna. He should be the one telling her about what had happened because if Lorna found the two of them dead, who knows what would happen.

He nodded at Steve notion to move. “Where do we go?”

{ trigger warning: infant death & blood }

Her grip tightened around the leather steering wheel, anxious to determine just what the hell was going on now. She’d hoped they’d have a little more time now before the next crisis, her mind was still reeling from the attacks on the school and Avenger’s compound and the guilt she took on for helping spark the flame. One minute, she’d been rocking Dawn to sleep with a quiet lullaby – and the next she’d received Marcos’ call involving a friend they believed to be dead twice over now. She supposed it shouldn’t surprise her anyone, Gus came back from the dead once before, and in all technicality, so had she. Lorna still wanted answers all the same.

She was grateful that the Sanctum was not only a safe place, but also full of people she trusted as babysitters and capable of protecting Dawn in an emergency. The institute had been nice, though it left Lorna feeling out of her element – the Sanctum fell into her small niche of weird. She’d only left once she knew Dawn was cared for, now pulling up to where they’d been attempting to establish a new headquarters to find Marcos waiting outside.

“What the hell happened? Where is he?” She questioned quickly as she got out of the car, not out of anger but exasperation to figure things out. The last they’d seen Gus alive, he hadn’t been doing so well. At the memory, Lorna let out a small sigh – expression softening a moment. “Is he okay?

Seeing Lorna hop out of the car and not some stranger who affiliated themselves with Sentinel Services or the new Friends for Humanity group was a relief. It was a good sign that maybe their old friend wasn’t important enough to the organizations to go hunting for as he thought he was. At her questions, his head shifted to look at the building and he let out a sigh. “He was just parading around the streets in his uniform. One thing led to another and I knocked him unconscious.” He quickly answered her questions. “He’s inside. Tied up with metal chains in case you need to intervene. I just couldn’t leave him behind knowing that we could help him.”

At her last question, he shook his head slowly. “I think they’ve still been drugging him-- experimenting on him into mindlessly following their orders.” He closed the gap between them, placing his hand on her shoulder. He paused, swallowing down the fear for his next words. “It seems like taking down that plane didn’t stop them from continuing the experiments. I’m so sorry, Lorna.” The last thing Marcos wanted it to sound like was ‘I told you so’ but that was exactly what it sounded like.

He was about to redirect light photons to the palm of his hand on Lorna’s shoulder to comfort her but, he couldn’t feel anything. “And it seems like our old friend is awake. Let’s go check on him?” He pulled away, gesturing to the entrance of their headquarters as he pressed his lips together. 

Despite the heaviness on her conscious, her lips tugged their way into a half smile as she felt his kiss on the knuckles of her hand. Her head nodded at the confirmation, they were okay. They were safe right now, and they had Dawn. Lorna looked to their sleeping daughter for a short moment, watching the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. It was easy to be comforted by the fact that their small family was okay, and she wanted nothing more than to continue reassuring him with that so they could act like everything was fine, but kept thinking to all of the families that weren’t.

“I know, I –,” A sigh escaped her lips, her hand gripping his tighter at the thought. This is what had gotten her into trouble in the first place, the feeling like she had to try fixing everything on her own by any means. “Yeah – together, I promise.” She reaffirmed the sentiment with a nod, wanting nothing more than to make sure it was a promise she could keep. Lorna knew there were still things she was willing to do that he may not, that she didn’t even want to ask him to do. It was a bridge they could cross together if the time ever came, though.

Genosha would be a touchy subject and she knew it, her own opinions about the island not even being fully formed. “It has to be their choice – I just mean, we give people the run down, and make sure people can get where they need to be safely. If they want to sign up for a mutant army, that’s their business – we can’t stop everyone from doing something they believe in.” She had to be careful with her words, because she knew how it sounded. “But… we can make sure that no one is being forced into it, or misled.”

“Right now no one is talking about that though, it’s just supposed to be a safe place for mutants and powered people to go.” She wasn’t sure how far that reassurance could go and she let out a deep breath. “I want to keep an eye on things there, to be a part of it, to make sure that it is what it’s supposed to be. The people there… they deserve that much. Everything is such a mess right now and I don’t know what he’ll do to try and get control over it.” She tried to explain, primarily hoping that her father would accept someone challenging his ideas if it came from her, but this was all new territory. 

There was hesitation in her voice and Marcos caught it. The uncertainty if she could keep that promise to him and it stung a bit. His thumb ran across the back of Lorna’s hand, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. “I need you to keep this promise, Lorna. After everything that happened, I am not losing you again.” He paused looking for the right words to say next, unsure if there was a right way to say his next words. “So if you find yourself feeling like you need to do something alone, let me know. We’ll do whatever needs to be done. Together.” --even if that included murder. There were no limits when it came to his family.

“Of course.” He nodded at her words. “We’ll visit the island from time to time. Make sure everything is fine on that end. That is, if your father is okay with me being there?” He chuckled nervously. “The last time I ran into him, you and I weren’t exactly on the best terms and if that wasn’t awkward enough, there was an aurora borealis surrounding us.” He cleared his throat. “You were there. You saw.” He was getting off topic and he knew it. He sighed and shook his head. “Anyways, I’ll be working on fixing up the new station in the meantime. Figure out how to siphon electricity from the grid to the building and get water running.”

“We’re going to fix all of this.” He pressed a soft kiss to Lorna’s forehead. “For all of the ones we’ve lost. Pulse. Dreamer. Shatter.” To name a few. “And most importantly, we’re going to fix the world for Dawn.”

The snarky tone wasn’t unexpected, though it did provoke a perfectly in unison eye roll from the three clones. “Still threatening people with the same old tricks, Marcos?” “We thought you could be more creative than that.” Sophie and Phoebe went back and forth through the exchange, eyes narrowed while Esme pressed her lips together and waited for them to wrap it up. “We do find it interesting how quick you are to jump to violence, since you claim to be one of the good guys and all.”

There’s a moment where they have to remember that they didn’t come here to start a fight, but they’d finish one if needed. Still, Esme’s attention flared – she knew that Dawn would be a touchy subject, but it bothered her all the same to be made out as if she were some threat to the child. “Excuse me, but the last I checked I saw her be born.” Maybe not the best approach to make. In the background, Phoebe was already mumbling about traffic being pretty heavy, in case he got any ideas. Esme thought a moment, it was difficult to know what approach to take with people when you couldn’t just look into their minds and get the quick answer. “Would that help? If we shared that memory? It’s not the same as actually being there, but it’s something.”

They really should discuss business, they knew that – regardless of any personal attachments Esme felt to the situation.

“We aren’t minions.” “Your sort-of father in law appreciates our ability to be effective and we appreciate the idea of a place for mutants, away from all the hate and the –” “experiments.” There’s a shared tone of disgust at the notion, the only real tell of their own past. They weren’t here to make the real sales pitch though, nor did they feel they had to. Anyone in their right mind could see the world going to hell. “We’re just offering to do our part.”

Marcos huffed at their comment on his threats but remained silent. It wasn’t new information that Marcos was a man who let his emotions lead his actions and considering all the things the Underground has done in the past, it was nature at this point to be violent when it was necessary. But the Frosts did have a good point, it didn’t make him sound any better than them if he was acting before thinking.

Just thinking about the night Dawn was born hurt Marcos. He tried. He tried so hard to find Lorna that night. To be there for his daughter’s birth. But he was too late. He missed it and it broke him from the inside. While he had Dawn and Lorna back at wherever they considered home, missing that night made him sound like a shitty father. For a second, Marcos seriously considered letting the Frosts into his head, to feel like he was there for Lorna and Dawn. But he shook his head at their offer. “It doesn’t matter. It happened and I wasn’t there. I can’t change that.”

When they mentioned experiments, his mind immediately shifted to the Hound program and how it turned Gus and countless other mutants into mindless weapons of war but, as far as he knew, Lorna taking down that plane shut down the program.  “And you wanted to talk to me because?” He arched a brow at the three of them. He wanted this conversation to be over as soon as possible.