by Darla
characters belong to Marvel with the exception of
Emma. She is Danielle's who was kind enough to let me
play with her and beta my story.
Victor Creed walked across the empty street. He was
in New York again having just finished another job.
It was two hours before dawn when he had walked out of
the drug dealer's apartment and down the street
without a backwards glance. He melted into the dense
fog that had settled over the city. He was a
professional, by the time the body was found no one
would even remember that he had been there.
He moved silently past boarded up windows careful not
to wake the man he could smell sleeping in the
dumpster. He could not shake the feeling that he had
been this way before. The creak of a child's swing
made him pause to take a closer look around through
the fog blanketing everything. A block away a lone
broken street light shone over a playground. It had
been neglected, as had the neighborhood around it. He
walked over to it, recognizing the place despite the
peeling paint and graffiti. It was not just any
playground he had wandered into. It was his Emma's.
This is where Birdy used to bring her to play, where
he had last seen her and his little girl.
That had been years ago. He had not seen them since
that one chance meeting. Birdy had been right. If
anyone knew that he had a kid she would be in danger
and he had not been in a position to protect her just
then. Birdy was smart, she would have moved on after
Forge had seen them together.
"She better have moved," he growled looking around.
He did not want his kid growing up in a hellhole like
this. He had to admit, Birdy was a good mother. She
would do a hell of a better job raising his kid than
Mystique had.
Victor stopped by the bench where he and Birdy had
last talked. Sitting in the shadows just out of the
light's reach, it was covered in graffiti. One of the
backboards had been broken. He sat down on the bench,
closed his eyes and remembered that afternoon. It had
been a time when he had almost been normal, a taste of
what could have been. He hadn't been joking when he
told Birdy that she and Emma could have been his
salvation. He saw Emma's little face as the memory
played itself out, laughing, than angry, and finally
her green eyes filled with tears when he left. He
took another breath. He could almost catch her scent,
baby soft and wild. His nostrils flared. There was
another scent on the breeze, one he knew very well.
He jumped up to move into the shadows.
SNICKT!
"Sabretooth," Wolverine growled, his six claws
gleaming in the light from above as he emerged from
the fog.
"Runt," Sabretooth sneered, a smile creeping up on his
face. The man in him retreated as the beast took
over. This was going to be fun. Here was something
to distract him from his memories.
Wolverine charged. Sabretooth met him halfway, taking
a glancing blow across the ribs as three metal claws
raked him exposing the bones. He sank his claws into
Wolverine's shoulder where it met his neck and ripped.
The blood felt warm on his fingers as it flowed out
of the wound but the bleeding stopped about the same
time as the pain in his side faded. It was enough.
His sensed focused on the blood and his world became a
roaring red haze.
They fought hard, each strike becoming more vicious
and instinctive. Injuries given would heal almost
immediately only to be replaced by new ones.
Sabretooth saw his opportunity and took it. Wolverine
stumbled and went down on his knees using his hands to
hold his insides in place. Sabretooth grabbed his
hair jerking his head back. He brought his hand up to
finish Wolverine off for good when he heard a voice
yell out in the fog.
"Wolvie! Nooo!" A small figure ran up out of the fog.
Sabretooth had time to note that it was a female,
roughly twelve years old. Her long blond hair shone
pale in the street light.
"New flavor of the month Runt?" Sabretooth taunted
ignoring the child and turning back to Wolverine. The
girl launched herself at him with a growl. The hand
he had ready to rip out Wolverine's throat struck
back, sending her flying into the light post. She
slid down to rest on the ground, the light directly
above showing the growing red around the slashes on
her chest and stomach. She looked up and he saw her
green eyes fill with tears looking back at him from
under her blond hair.
"Daddy?" She whispered.
The pain in her voice ripped into his heart in a way
no weapon ever had. He let go of Wolverine and took a
step towards her.
"Emma!" yelled Wolverine getting up to charge again.
Sabretooth didn't even notice the man moving towards
him. The beast retreated, the red haze lifted and
Victor Creed looked disbelieving at the blood on his
claws than at his daughter lying on the ground, a
growing pool of blood under her.
"EMMA!"
Victor bolted upright. He was covered in sweat and
couldn't move his legs. Looking down he saw that they
were tangled in the sheets. He ripped savagely at
them until he was free and on his feet, breathing
hard. He looked around. It was his cell at the
X-Factor base. He looked at his hands. There was no
blood on his claws. The clock read 4:00 AM. His hand
went up to touch the collar around his neck. He took a
deep breath.
"Nightmare. Just a fucking nightmare." He said out
loud to help convince himself of the here and now. It
had just been yesterday that he had seen Emma and
Birdy in the park. She was all right. They both
were. Running a hand through his hair, Victor flipped
on the light and headed to the bathroom. He was up
for the day.
