Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
She slapped him hard against his hairy cheek. He's changed in the last 10 years. Beard, sunken eyes, hair long and shaggy, standing. His baby blue eyes, so full of love and hope, turned into cloudy storms. Rubbing his cheek with the back of his hand, he said, "Irina, I-"
"Do not speak to me. The only words that come out of your mouth are words of a lair."
He sighed, dropping his head. "You have to understand-"
"Do not ask me to understand," she spat. "Why are you here? Why do you finally come out of your room, and stand on my porch?" She demanded to know with a hand clawing at her thigh strap and a dangerous step forward.
He looked at her warily. Her handprint burned red on his hairy cheek. "Logan, if you please." He stood to the side.
It's been exactly 10 years since she last saw Charles. They'd been laughing in his study over a bottle of fine whiskey. A smile laced their features. Not anymore. Not since everyone had started to leave the school for the Vietnam war, or since Irina moved to New York City to be closer to her babushka.
Logan was a tan, tall, built man with a funky beard, weird hair, and a brown leather jacket. He trudged on her porch stairs. "Hello, Miss Smirnov."
A tinge of pain hit her.
I'll love you until forever falls apart, Mrs. Smirnov, he had said with her in his arms, under the honey sunlight. The sea was roaring behind them singing lullabies.
The memory made another crack make its way onto her heart.
"My name is Logan." He glanced at Gaia, who stood behind him. As if seeking some comfort or reassurance from her.
Gaia stood at the end of the ebony, crooked stairs. She gave Irina an awkward, wary wave.
Jerking his face towards Irina once more, Logan says, "And I'm from the future."
She raised her eyebrows, at this point, she's not surprised anymore. Not after 1961 or her grandmother's confession-filled letter. "Mmh, go on." She leaned against the doorway.
"In 2023, there'll be these things called sentinals. They can hunt down mutants, and any human that helps them. There are few mutants left, much fewer X-men."
"And how do these, sentinels, you call them, happen?"
"The government kidnaps Raven, uses her DNA, and to advance the sentinels," answered Charles. "At some point, they take yours too, after you... and are able to allow them to duplicate and teleport."
Irina furrowed her eyebrows. "After I what?"
"You pass away, Irina. Protecting Gaia," said Logan.
Somehow, that soothed her. She died for the person she loves the most, it was good enough for her. "Alright, so why are you here?"
"I was sent here by Charles and... Erik to stop Raven from assassinating Trask. That's what makes them take her."
