Ghost of a Chance (Nathan, Lorna)

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Nathan and Lorna are coming out of a very early-morning training session in the Danger Room when they spot three X-Men leaving the hangar. None of them should be there in leathers, but only two of them died on a certain Greek island fifteen months ago.


"You horrible sneaky witch," Nathan complained bitterly as he and Lorna stepped from the Danger Room into the hall, which seemed markedly cooler for some reason. Possibly because the flamethrowers had been busy back in the room. "You were not supposed to circle around like that. I ought to spank you."

Lorna turned in a circle, looking up and down the corridor, checking the ceilings with particular care. "Wow, did you hear that, it sounded like some old, broken down man was complaining about how I totally saved his ass back there. It was the weirdest thing. I mean, it kinda sounded just like you except that I know that you're no way that ungrateful."

Nathan made a noise that sounded perilously close to a raspberry. "Hush. I can appreciate the save and still critique your technique," he said loftily.

"My technique kept you from getting barbequed. Ergo, it was the right response. Your way would have left you in Amelia's care." She yanked out her ponytail and shook back her damp green hair. "You're only complaining because it was a trifle undignified."

"Well, yes. Why did you feel the need to dangle me?" Nathan demanded, although there was a suspicious sparkle in his gray eyes. He wasn't as disgusted as he was pretending to be, of course. But it was fun to put on a show. "I am not my daughter. I do not enjoy being upside-down."

"Hey, beggars can't be choosers. Your ankle was the easiest thing to grab. The dangling was just a bonus." She did a quick turn, in that state of exhaustion where it becomes a curious sort of wired energy all on its own. "Oh, hey, hanger door is open."

"Maybe Sam's in there working on the plane or something," Nathan said. "I think he's been keeping up maintenance while... Scott's..." The word 'away' did not make it past his suddenly frozen lips. Because someone was walking out of the hangar. Someone in X-Men leathers - leathers, you definitely didn't work on the plane in leathers.

More to the point, people who were in Tel Aviv working for Elpis weren't here wearing X-Men leathers. They just weren't. Nathan stared wide-eyed at the image of Ian, shaking his head slightly.

"Well, damn. I never thought..." But when he thought about it, it did make a certain amount of sense. One Mistra operative had joined the X-Men, after all. Why not another, in a different version of events? And Ian looked completely at ease in an X-Men uniform, as if he'd been wearing it all along.

Lorna's jaw had dropped. "Oh wow. That would be so cool. Do you think that..." It was her turn to stop mid-sentence, her gaze drifting off toward the 'Bird. She grabbed Nathan's arm so he would stop watching Ian and nodded at the plane.

Nathan looked in that direction, and saw two other X-Men walking away from the plane. Tears welled abruptly in his eyes and he blinked rapidly, almost desperately. Oh, fuck...

Lorna hadn't ever known them. Not by more than a name. But her hand tightened on Nathan's arm anyway and she stepped closer to him, almost protectively though there was no way to protect him from this. "Are they..."

Ian stopped, looking back over his shoulder and smiling, raising an eyebrow as Tim and Mick reached the hall and mouthing something that involved 'showers' and 'debriefing'. Nathan should have been focusing more on reading his lips, but the bulk of his attention was locked on the other two. The two who really, really weren't supposed to be here, even more than Ian wasn't supposed to be here. Because they'd died in that hallway on Youra. Fallen right in front of him, and he hadn't been able to do anything, hadn't been able to help them...

But it was them. So obviously them that Nathan was struggling to remember that this wasn't real. Mick gave Ian an amused look, his lips moving in a retort, and Tim just smirked, shaking his head a little as he rubbed at his bearded jaw. Ian rolled his eyes at them both and aimed a playful blow at Mick's head.

All three of them in leathers. All three of them, alive and well...

"They look... just like they did." What might have been looked just like what had been. How ironic was that? Like it should have been this natural progression, or something. Ian's beard was gone, but Mick and Tim looked just like they had the morning they'd left Galicia for Youra.

It hurt.

Lorna's heart broke for him, confronted by the ghosts of those he'd lost. "We don't know anything about how that could have happened. We don't know what it would have cost." That was the worst part of these alternate nows that kept showing up. Good or ill, they were all mysterious and unreachable.

The three ghost X-Men turned and walked down the hall, away from where he and Lorna were standing. Nathan followed them with his eyes almost desperately, wanting to store away every detail that he could. When the three of them walked into the wall and vanished, the tears were falling freely and he didn't even raise a hand to brush them away.

"I try... I try not to think about what-ifs," he said to Lorna, his voice choked. "Because there are so many of them, from that day..."

"I know," she said softly and pushed just a bit off the ground, just enough to be able to give him a hug without straining. "We did what had to be done. They did too."

Nathan stood there rigidly for a moment and then hugged her back tentatively. It was a bit awkward, given that they were both in leathers, and yet, apparently it was possible to cling just a little.

"They would have been so good at this," he muttered feebly, and the tears weren't stopping. Ah, well. "It would have made them so happy. At least... at least Ian's happy in Tel Aviv, with Ani." He swallowed past the lump in his throat. "But she wasn't there. I wonder..." No. No what-ifing.

"They would have," Lorna agreed softly and hugged him tightly. "Let's go get cleaned up. It's lunchtime in Tel Aviv. We can call Ian and harass him. It'll be fun."

"Okay." Nathan nodded a bit jerkily, but let himself be led towards the locker room. "I bet you Ani answers his phone." It was an attempt at a joke, and it almost made it.

"Probably. If Ian isn't a complete nitwit." These visions really had to stop. Lorna didn't know how many more of them the mansion could take.