WOLVERINE.

They did this some times -- the father/daughter bonding thing. It wasn’t really what people would expect. They’d meet up in a bar; Logan would drink and Laura would sit back with fingers that twitched every time a guy looked at her with alcohol glazed eyes. He’d let her fight her own fights. He always had. Things between them hadn’t always been easy. The day he had left her at Xavier’s felt like the ultimate betrayal. For a long time, she had belonged to no one; not even herself. She was his, in a way, but he had left her. Made her someone else's problem. At the time, Laura had hated him. Now, she was old enough to understand him.

“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted as she looked down at the bar top. It was sticky from spilled alcohol. They usually were. Blood was sticky too. She didn’t want any of it on her hands. “With Gabby. She died, Logan. And where was I? Inside, partying.”

It was an honor to be elected to the X-Men, they said. Enjoy yourself tonight, Laura. Dance with Everett and laugh at the joke Scott made. Don’t notice your own fucking sister getting murdered.

“Did you know that Cuckoos stepped on her when she was smashing lips with Cable?” That was his girlfriend’s son, stepping on Laura’s sister. “The Five agreed to resurrect her and she’s back now. Which is good.” They had been having issues before she died. It was just another thing to add to the pile.

Everett let out a soft chuckle at the orange comment, picturing it in his head. He thought it was really cute how Laura would use her claws like that. He almost found himself daydreaming for a moment before he refocussed himself and cleared his throat, a little awkwardly. He’d been fine tuning the technique that Jean showed him to use her telepathy to show Laura what she’d forgotten in the Vault, but he wanted to do it right. First off, he needed to ask if that was something she wanted. He really hoped it was, but he wasn’t going to force the memories onto her if it wasn’t. The whole situation was just tricky, and he wanted to be respectful about it. “I had a question for you, actually.” He decided on, taking a deep breath and trying to brace himself for potential disappointment before continuing. “I’ve been working on this thing with Jean. I, uh..” Another pause. God, why was this so hard? Confronting the possibility that Laura would never want to remember what went down in the Vault was terrifying, but he had to at least give her the option. “I can help you remember. The Vault, I mean. If that’s something you want.”

-- I can help you remember. The Vault. -- 

the vault, the vault, the vault. 

laura hated the goddamn vault. she hated the way it made her feel and the time she had lost there. there were connections made and obliterated in its dark expanse. within its massive walls, laura kinney had become someone else. she had grown and evolved and died. the only remnant of that woman was nestled in the memory of the man in front of her. synch had never meant anything to laura. they weren’t friends -- hell, at the time of the mission they hadn’t even been teammates. now she meant something to him and he meant nothing to her. no, that wasn’t fair. he had. she just didn’t know how to remember it. his intensity, as a result, set her on edge.

“i wasn’t sure that they thought it would be a good idea.” laura had fallen completely still, muscles twitching like she wanted to pounce. that was how she got: like a caged animal full of restless energy. it could be too much, charles had advised when she had first put in the request to have her memories restored. we don’t want to fracture your mind, or burn synch out if he tries to pass them. i’ll need to confer with jean.

but that had been the last of it. radio silence. radio silence and laura was afraid -- afraid, something she wasn’t usually acquainted with. realizing that she had been standing there, the mutant slowly nodded her head. 

“In my defense he was dead when I got here. Now grab his legs, we only have a few minutes to hide the body.”

“Unless you want to meet your maker, I suggest you move.”

“hi, i’m bucky. i have one arm –– is that too forward?”

@wclvrines​

Everett was worn down after a long day out working with the X-Men, but he and his teammates finally made it back to the Manhattan Treehouse to unwind after their mission. Ever since Jean taught him the telepathy trick, he was contemplating showing Laura the memories that had been plaguing him for the last several months. It would lift a huge weight off of his shoulders, but he was also terrified. Laura was… well, she was Laura. There was no telling how she’d react to all of that being dumped onto her. And he was conflicted about burdening her with it in the first place. Sure, she’d know how he felt, but she’d also remember the Vault. He almost just wished that he also had no memory of any of it. But he was in love with her, and he’d never be able to live with himself if he never told her. This was the only way that made sense. He gently knocked on her open door as he stood in the doorway and offered a small smile. 

“You busy?”

“But hey, it worked out this time? You gotta celebrate the small victories every once in awhile. How are you after Pleasant Hill, by the way? Your nose seemed kinda gnarly when you were that cheerleader..”

“That’s fair. It’s always kind of hard to bounce back from particularly rough missions. I’m still kind of recovering from Pleasant Hill, and it wasn’t even that bad. I think I’m just a little rusty.”

Gabby wanted to be reassured by that, but something told her that a lot of Laura’s time was about to be preoccupied by the X-Men. Not that that was a bad thing, she was happy for her sister, but she was going to miss Laura being so close. Manhattan felt like so far away. “Okay, you’re right. It’ll be okay.” She nodded, but she wasn’t sure if she believed that. She couldn’t help a laugh at the mention of Laura having to use Emma’s stylist. “I guess that’s what comes with being on the X-Men, huh? Emma’s gotta make sure everything’s perfect and all.” She teased, and her smile widened at the mention of Laura going shopping with her. “I would like that a lot, actually.”

“I’m newer to Manhattan too. I’m more of an west coast kind of gal myself.” Daisy tried to smile a bit, but she couldn’t help but chuckle at the mention of tech. “Hacking is kind of my thing, but recently everyone seems to think that means they can come up and ask me for help with coffee machines and such.”

“Guess it’s just a force of habit.” Everett cracked a small smile as he lifted the bottle up and took a big swig of water from it. It definitely hit the spot after the training session they’d just had, and he didn’t take longer than a few more seconds to just finish out the rest of the bottle. “I don’t mind it, honestly. It’s cool that we can see the city. I do kind of miss Krakoa, though. How’s Gabby holding up with you being gone?”

“Yeah, I guess you could call it that.” Martinique scoffed at the idea of being an associate to the Hellfire Club. If anything, she was Emma Frost’s Bitch. But she supposed it was better than going to trial. “I was just doing what S.H.I.E.L.D. was contracting me to do. Nothing personal.” She flashed a sarcastic smile at the other mutant before rolling her eyes.

“Well you guys were a really big help with the whole thing. I’m sorry they ended up sucking a bunch of you into the town.” Daisy sighed, somehow feeling personally responsible. She knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help it. She had been pretty heavily involved with Pleasant Hill for the sake of her dad, even if it meant having to keep S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets. Bobbi and her decided it was the best thing to do in the moment, but Daisy definitely had her regrets.

“Yes, I am. Viv Vision. And you’re the Wolverine, right?” Viv gave a warm smile and held her hand out to shake before continuing. “I’m hoping so, but right now it looks like they’re temporarily suspended in the aftermath of Pleasant Hill. It’s unclear what’s going to happen, but they released everyone in the Re-Education Center, so that’s a start.”