knock on wood | howlett

EPILOGUE

"AND THEN I DID LAUGH, EVEN THOUGH THE FUTURE WAS A DANGEROUS PLACE, BECAUSE I LOVED HER, AND SHE LOVED ME, AND THE WORLD WAS BEAUTIFUL."
-FOREVER

logan arrived at the rubble of the factory.

for a hundred and some odd years, beck was held prisoner in the heap of metal and brick that lay in front of him.

he got out of the car and went to the volunteer table.

"...it's been two months and the city's just now cleaning this worthless mess up?" he heard a bystander say. logan signed his name under the last and handed the clipboard back to the person behind the table.

logan picked up a hard hat and shovel. he then looked to the group of soccer moms who the voice had come from.

"ladies, why don't you swallow your pride and do something about it then?" he shook his head and walked toward the mess. scott wandered toward logan.

logan dumped a shovel-full of charred wood into the nearest wheelbarrow.

"xavier said there were no survivors," scott mumbled under his breath. the two were out of earshot of anyone. "other than beck."

"beck's dead," logan hissed, "i don't think that qualifies her as a survivor."

"she walked away from this factory. she survived a bomb when she saved your ass. i think that qualifies her, even if she was proclaimed dead when she first came to this place," scott huffed with effort. he dumped some bricks into the wheelbarrow.

logan exhaled, turning away from scott.

"i just can't believe colossus took her away without telling us. he didn't give her the meds." logan began to dig into the charred earth, toward a broken pipe. "a week later and he won't even say where he brought her."

he lifted up the pipe with his hands and dumped it.

"maybe it's what she wanted."

"what?" logan stopped working and faced scott. scott stopped.

"i mean, her power was killing her. what if she didn't take the meds and refill the IV because she thought it was time for her to die? you were going to put her to sleep anyway. what if she went to the ocean and dived in with an anvil attached to her ankle? or jump off a bridge? maybe she went to xavier's dad's school... i don't think it was colossus's idea though. he cared about her too, logan; we all did."

scott walked over to another area to work on.

the school.

logan took off his hard hat. he jogged to his car, passing the moms and the volunteer sign up. he threw the shovel in the back and put his keys in the ignition, speeding off toward the school.

he drove for a silent hour, speeding on the highways and backroads alike. he pulled into a familiar dirt path.

dust kicked up behind the car as he sped past his old property with the sad apple trees. he pulled into xavier's school for the gifted, parked his car and ran for the fence, shovel in hand. logan stopped in his tracks when he reached the fence.

beck's body lay in a bed of grass and flowers.

her skin had paled, making her blue veins stand out more vividly. her hair was dirty and her muscles were dead in the earth.

flies picked at her lifeless body and bees tried to salvage the withering flowers.

he reached into his pocket and felt the letter. he opened it, read the smeared words for the hundredth time, and set it beside her body.

he took the shovel and began to shovel dirt onto her.

when her body was properly covered, he found two pieces of dehydrated wood. he tied them in the shape of a cross with dead grass.

one strip of wood was buried into the earth where a gravestone would be.

logan wiped his forehead and looked at the apple trees. the dark branches seemed to be reaching for him. the shovel fell to the side and logan walked toward the car.

a content sadness washed over him.

her soul was tired. it was her time. he had many years left, a lot of fight still in him. he vowed to not forget her a second time, and he vowed that her sacrifice wouldn't be in vain.

the end.