Reconsider [XMEN AU]

P r o l o g u e

Author's Note:

This story takes place in an alternate universe set after the happenings of what occured in X2. I own no X-Men characters mentioned or portrayed, only the original characters and alternate plot I have created.
Thank you.

    "Meine Liebe," My love, Dalisay whispered tentatively, running her fingers over Kurt's scaly blue skin, the tattoos sprawled across it smooth against her fingertips. The blazing desert sun beat down on the back of her neck, unrelenting, making it feel as though her skin was sizzling on a barbecue. Kurt's chest rose and fell in short, shallow incidents, his breathing more or less gasps and sputters. Dalisay glanced behind her, expecting Logan to come running, out of breath, to carry Kurt back to the Blackbird, where he'd be soared off to Xavier's mansion, and taken care of. The Professor would save him, like he saved everyone under his care. 

        Well, not everyone. He couldn't save Jean. 

        But Dalisay couldn't afford to think like that right now. Tentatively, she began to pull away the tattered fragments of Kurt's worn, frayed gray t-shirt, to reveal a wound on the side of his rib-cage. She'd need to dress the wound quickly, but it wasn't as if she readily had a first aid kit available. How could she have been so stupid, coming to look for Kurt, and not listening to Ororo or Xavier's previous warnings?

        They told her she wasn't prepared, but did she listen?

        Of course not.

        If she had, Kurt wouldn't have gotten shot, and they wouldn't be stranded here. But then again, if she hadn't come after him, Kurt would've been drugged, and sent on the next freighter to Columbia to be used in a dirty sideshow for some dictator's entertainment. Dalisay couldn't just let them take him. She would always, always do everything she could to help those she loved, because that list was small enough already, and it wouldn't get any smaller, not if she could help it. Dalisay let out a gruff, frustrated sigh, and knelt down at Kurt's side. She tugged at the hem of the ebony, gauzy formal gown she was wearing, ripping off strips of the fabric so she could at least try and make a tourniquet for him. Kurt let out a soft, throaty moan as Dalisay tied the material tightly around his wound, trying to stop it from bleeding any further. 

        "I'm sorry, Kurt." Dalisay murmured, swallowing the rising lump of fear in her throat. The last thing she wanted to do was make him suffer more, what with all she'd put him through. 

        Maybe you should just kill him now, and put him out of his pain. A tentative, seemingly kind voice inside her head instructed gently. 

        The voice was probably correct, as usual. Perhaps that was the most humane and kind thing she could do for Nightcrawler. It would put him out of the misery she had so, ultimately, put him in. 

        No.
        No.
        No.

        How could she even think of doing such a thing?

        Where was Logan? God, she needed him right now, to assure her that she wasn't going crazy, and that these thoughts that were not her own were under her control. 

        Why wasn't he here when she needed him?

        You were stupid to think he'd come through with anything, especially this, Dalisay. The now scolding voice nagged at her, and Dalisay couldn't concentrate on pushing it away with Kurt to take care of. He didn't care about you. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. Never did. Never will. You were just being a foolish little girl, thinking Logan was your father or something, and that he actually gave a shit or two about you. Foolish, foolish Dalisay. When will you ever learn?

        Logan had never been constant in Dalisay's life, nor had he been predictable, but Dalisay did know that Logan had seen his fair share of turmoil and loss in his long, seemingly endless life, and that he was someone who was genuine. Sometimes brash, feral, and drunk, but genuine. He was real, in all the ways that life and reality could shape and mold a person into who they were. Although Dalisay didn't often admit it, she cared about him, and thought somewhere, beneath that indestructible adamantium exterior, he cared about her as well. He'd taken care of her, and he had seemed to love her, as a father did a daughter. Dalisay knew that their relationship was tumulative and indescribable at times, but there was something, like an almost invisible tether, keeping the two of them connected and together, despite the distance. But maybe this time he'd decided to cut the line.

        Dalisay let out a shaky, unsure breath, feeling the sudden urge to cry.  All the things she doubted, all the unknowns in her life made her fearful, and it was saddening. Dalisay was so inevitably sad, and until this moment, she had refused those feelings, pushing them so far beneath her exterior that she was practically empty of anything. No, those feelings, they demanded to be felt, pushing and morphing until they would explode in a hot, fiery mess of tears and heightened frustration. Her hands slowly began to tremble as she finished the tourniquet with one final knot of the gauzy material, her cheeks flushed from the heat and desperation churning in the pit of her stomach. Logan, please just get your ass over here. Rescue us, just this once.

Logan, please just come.
I need you.