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| Slavery, Deliverance and Faith (Epilogue) By Dyce Marie pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, squinting up into the clear blue sky. Grass tickled her bare toes, and a warm breeze lifted he hair on her arms. It'd been eight weeks since Magneto had escaped from prison, and she still didn't know much about what had happened. Before she'd heard more than a few panicked 'Oh god he's loose help eee' bits on the radio, Logan had grabbed her and carried her bodily to her room, ordering her to pack her duffel and be in front of the house in ten minutes. Marie had made a virtue of being able to pack everything she needed... and everything that was important to her... into the duffel, ever since she arrived at the school. She could also do it fairly fast. So she'd been down in front of the house in time to see Logan all but physically throw Geordi out the door, then get shoved out himself by Creed, who had Clarice under his arm. Clarice, Marie recalled, had been wearing a resigned expression as she was hauled around like a bag of laundry. Then Annie had come out too, carrying two duffels, one of them probably Clarice's since it had pink bunny stickers all over it, and towing Kyle and Jonny, who both looked baffled. Creed and Logan, working in eerie unison, had hastily stuffed all six teenagers into an oversized Jeep and the next thing Marie remembered clearly was Annie talking over the radio, and the startled looks the men had exchanged when they'd realized that a) they'd both grabbed 'their' kids and bolted for a safer hideaway and b) they were in the same car. THAT had been funny. So had the lengthy arguments the two of them had engaged in before finally accepting that they were going to have to work together to keep 'the cubs' safe. Neither of them had seen fit to ask Annie why she'd brought Kyle and Jonny. Presumably they were afraid she'd answer. Anyway. Four days later they'd arrived here, here being a hut somewhere high up and in back of the Welsh mountains, and had effectively hit the ground running. All morning, every morning, they trained. Hand to hand combat at first, although they'd been promised a start on edged weapons soon. Healthy barefoot six mile runs. Rock climbing. As much clean-living basic training the two despots who called themselves men could fit in. A quick lunch, and then it was chores. Hunting, fishing, cleaning, cutting wood, survival training, another six mile run... then dinner, a quick wash, sleep, and the whole thing starting over again. This, apparently, was the Creed And Logan Method of preparing the 'cubs' for anything. The first three weeks had been hell for everyone except Annie. Now, though, the grumbles were starting to quiet down. They were all getting stronger and more alert, moving faster and more surely. It was nice to have the I-can-do-anything feeling of *almost* scoring a good hit on Sabretooth before breakfast. And the food was pretty good... both men agreed that meat and vegetable meals two or three times a day were essential parts of a training regime, along with a solid seven or eight hours of sleep for everyone still growing. And they got the afternoon off every five days. The first three weeks they'd spent the extra time sleeping. Now... Marie straightened up, pointed her arms above her head, and grabbed a tree-branch, swinging herself up easily. She sat on the branch for a moment, then scrambled further up the tree, until she reached the last of the branches that could hold her. The ground was hidden by leaves and branches now and she made herself comfortable in a sort of leafy green cave, pulling a book out of the front of her t-shirt. Off to her left, she could hear splashing, as Annie and Kyle practiced catching fish with their bare hands. Fresh fish for dinner. Good. Jonny and Clarice weren't with them, for once - Logan had dragged them off for an impromptu botany lesson. (This is good to eat, this isn't, this is good to eat, this isn't) Geordi was on firewood duty again, and she could hear the thunk-thunk of bad-tempered axe-strokes. She didn't know where Sabretooth was. Around someplace. She opened her book, a small handwritten volume in a worn leather cover. "Being a Study of the Art of Invisibility, or Escaping Undesired Detection," she spelled out, leaning back against the tree. "By Richard Maven. It is undeniable fact that there is none so effectively invisible as he who fitteth into his surroundings so seamlessly that he passeth unremarked. Thereby, the first action of invisibility is observation..." (The End) Author's Note: As Godless ended, so too doth SDF... with even more teasing cliffhangers... <G> Needless to say, being the shameless feedback hussy I am, the more feedback I get, the more likely I am to write the third series of the arc. Yes, I'm shameless. Feedback please? :) |