This story features the X-Men and other related characters, which are copyrighted by Marvel Entertainment/Marvel Comics Group and are used without permission. The use of these characters in this story is not intended to infringe on that copyright. No profit is being made on this work, it's written solely for entertainment purposes. This work is copyright of me and may not be used for commercial purposes.
It's All In Your Head: Part Nineteen
by sevenall
Elizabeth couldn't get warm. Bishop had supported her when she wobbled outside, grabbed her when her knees just gave way under her and poured her into the garden hammock. He had heaped blankets on her and put a hot water bottle at her feet. She felt terribly embarrassed by his ministrations. If she had known her weakness, she wouldn't have been so eager to leave the infirmary. Hank had given his reluctant permission, no doubt seeing her obstinacy as a good sign, and then turned back to analyzing the various body fluids he had taken from her. Even a saliva sample.
She squinted up at Bishop who had placed himself on one of the sunchairs.
"Shouldn't you...the security checks?"
"Scott's on. Surveillance has been pretty tight since word got back that you'd been taken by the FoH."
"Oh."
"Don't expect anything locked by palm print or retinal scan to open. Security protocol level five is currently being employed. Everyone is on stand-by."
"Sinister?"
"No sign of him. I think," he said thoughtfully, "that Remy's injuries were serious enough to require Sinister's personal attention."
Elizabeth moved her head slightly, to ease the mounting pressure inside, and saw that Bishop held a flower between his fingers. It was one of the small cream-coloured rambler roses that covered the southern wall.
"Sub rosa," he said, raising the rose to his lips.
"I didn't know that you were interested in Medieval customs," Elizabeth said, but she didn't resist when he held the rose to her mouth.
"Sub rosa," she said, pledging her silence.
It was a while before he spoke.
"Time twists," he said then, sounding so unlike himself that Elizabeth got up on her elbow to take a closer look at him. "Of all the possible futures I've known, LeBeau was a part of them. Protector and abuser in one."
The dark features was calm, introspective. Not a madman's face nor the face of someone getting lost in the timestream.
"He was the X-Traitor," he went on. "I forget how and why. It's not important. You see, the tape was dated to the minute. Today was the day."
"Was?" Elizabeth breathed.
"The time window has passed."
"Did he know?"
"Oh yes. I told him this morning."
"What did he say?"
"He tried to taunt me into killing him, then made for the nearest window. I...denied him that. With him dead, there would be no one to care for my sister in seventy years from now. We argued. Finally, he agreed to trust my judgment in this matter. The mission profile for an infiltration of the FoH was ready. We used that as an excuse to put some distance between us and Greymalkin Lane."
It all fit, Remy shutting the door in her face, shoving her across the floor, drawing the laser-fire. There had been relief in his strange eyes, before the pain and shock overwhelmed him, relief that the choice had been taken out of his hands.
"I'm glad you got there when you did," Elizabeth said solemnly. "Or I might have been the one to betray us all."
"No. It isn't in you."
"How do you know?"
He touched the rose to his lips again, as if to remind her of their mutual vow of silence.
"In my future," he said slowly, "you were the first X-Man to die. Jean and you had infiltrated one of the mutant camps. Jean got out. You did not. The camp was destroyed when the X-Men attacked it the same evening, but it was too late. Your interrogator had shot the whole interview as well as the torture that broke you, and the tape went on international tv. You died a week later without having regained consciousness. The tapes of that went on tv, too."
He paused, trying to gauge her reaction, before continuing.
"Half a century later, it was a crime to own a copy of that tape. The Witness had one, of course. I watched it several times. I saw you break as your body betrayed you. It took nine hours. Four hours was needed to change all the codes and overhaul security. You gave us five more. That's how I know."
"What else do you know?"
Again, a momentary hesitation.
"I know you are not her," he said. "Although there are times when I almost think you are.You have her face, her body. Even the mannerisms. But you are not her."
"That's true."
"I cannot read you like I could her. But that expression on her face would mean that she was grieving for LeBeau and I would tell her not to."
He put a finger under her chin and made her look at him, and she did, although her eyes were brimming with unshed tears.
"LeBeau got his wish," he said simply.
"Sub rosa," Elizabeth whispered, her voice breaking just a little.
He nodded.
"Sub rosa."
As the last petal fell from the rose. --