Chapter Text
How had he gotten roped into watching over his own kittens along with Logan's pups? That was a mystery to Creed, but he didn't really mind much. He gave a quick sniff to double check on who was where. Times when he had to keep track of the kids were among the few times he really missed having his full sight. Adimu and Moira weren't far from his side. Kamau's scent was coming from above which meant he was up in a tree again. Charlie, Jean, Doug and Sue were clustered together on the other side of the fire. . . that was all of them.
"Kamau? Get yer rump down outta that tree. you know th' rules about goin' up in trees after sunset. Now, alla you siddown an' eat."
All of the kids started eating with a good appetite until Charles stopped and glanced behind them.
"Uncle Victor? Shouldn't we be waiting on the others?"
"Huh? Naw, we ain't waitin' on th' others, Charlie. Yer Ma's gettin' some well-earned rest while yer Pa's gettin' acquainted with yer two new sisters. Now eat 'fore yer ma tries to nip my butt for not feedin' you."
Feeling a tug, he looked down at one of the small girls still by his side.
"Could you tell us a story?"
Looking down at Adimu, Creed mentally groaned. He had a hard time ever saying no to her.
"What sorta story are you after, kitten?"
"About how we came to live here."
A glance around showed Creed that all of the kids were interested, but he still hesitated.
"Oh... well, yeh. I guess I can tell ya that one, but are you sure you wanna hear it? I'm not gonna put a gloss on things an' it ain't a pretty story."
The others joined in and asked for the story, so he gave in with a nod of his head.
"Alright then - now where t' start? There were all kinda sides back in them days. Ol' Xavier - the one you were named after, Charlie - he wanted equal co-existance... mutants an' humans workin' side-by-side. Magneto? He wanted mutants as th' rulers with humans bein' second class citizens... or less. Then there were mutant an' human radicals that each wanted th' other side wiped out totally or enslaved. Most folks? Truthfully, I'd guess that most folks weren't on any side really - they flat out didn't care 'bout things 'less it directly affected them."
Reaching for another piece of meat, Kamau frowned slightly.
"So . . . which side was Momma on?"
"Yer Ma was on th' side fer co-existance. I never could believe in that stuff back then myself - not that I'm gonna knock folks that wanted t' try it. Besides, my opinion these day ain't th' same as it used to be. Even back then, I hadda give those folks some respect. It took balls t' stand up fer peace when some yahoos were tryin' t' kill you for your beliefs. And no, you don't have to tell me that killin' someone that just wants peace don't make a lick o' sense. That's one thing that hasn't changed."
Pausing to scratch his head for a moment, Creed considered, then shrugged.
"In a lotta ways, the details don't matter. You just need t' know that back then, I had a whole lotta hate goin' on. Against humans. Against authority. Even against other mutants. I'd find temporary fixes here an' there that'd allow me t' think straight, but they never lasted."
Her blue eyes studying him carefully, Adimu looked puzzled.
"You aren't that way anymore, Poppa. What changed?"
Reaching a hand down to smooth back his only daughter's hair, Creed shrugged again.
"In a nutshell, kitten? The world, as we knew it, ended. Which is the story you bunch asked to hear, so settle down and I'll see what I can remember. As I recall, th' day started like another heapin' shovelful o' manure bein' dumped onto th' pile. There's a lotta story behind what was goin' on back then, but 'Ro and Jimmy both used to be part of that group you've all heard about called the X-Men. I went mostly by the name of Sabretooth back then and the X-ers had managed t' corral me. Xavier got it into his head that he was gonna get into my core an' either straighten me out or figure a way t' put me down. Th' way it came down... well, I guess he got what he was after, but I bet he'd never chosen th' way it happened."
"Lemme set it up fer ya so's ya know where all th' chess pieces were 'fore some idiot kicked over th' board. I was in a set o' restraints that were heavy as shit."
"Uncle Vic - language."
"Jean honey? If they don't want you hearing my vocabulary, they sure as hell need to start pickin' a different babysitter - and yes, you can tell yer Ma that I said that. Now - where was I? Jimmy was off t' the side, mutterin' to 'Ro. Xavier was right in front o' me with Phoenix an' Frost at his sides. I suppose th' two gals were feedin' power t' Xavier while he was burrowin' through th' red mists that filled my head back then. Beast, yer Uncle Hank, an' Cyclops were in th' area as well, but not in my line o' sight. Jus' knew they were there 'cause I could smell 'em. Also, I could hear McCoy talkin'. Man never shuts up. Bet he even talks in his sleep. Yeh, I know - gettin' off track again."
"Obviously, there was no warnin' an' none o' us knew 'xactly what was goin' on at th' time. We had t' piece it t'gether as best we could after th' dust settled. One minute I'm fightin' against th' uninvited mind intrusion - next minute, everything went... on fire. No.. hotter than fire. I've been burned up, blown up, kicked outta th' occasional airplane, run over, half-drowned an' froze. None o' that even came close t' th' pure intensity o' pain that swept me away in a blindin' excruciatin' flood. Only thing I could even start t' compare it to was th' Glow that lil' Birdy used t' give me."
"Who's Birdy, Uncle Vic?"
"That's a story for another day when you're a lot older, Doug. All you need to know was that she had powers a little like Frost. She could do a pain spike that would let me keep the feral side o' me under control. Don't even bother asking me how something like that worked. All I know is that it did. But what happened to me that day? That was as far past th' Glow as the sun is past a candle."
"Jimmy said he'll never figure how I managed it, but apparently that pain kicked my adrenaline into extra-high gear and I snapped outta those restraints like they were tissue-paper. Not 'cause I was tryin' t' do it - just a knee-jerk reaction. I wasn't even aware o' anything then beyond th' pain. I ain't a philosopher or nothin', but only thing I can compare it to is a crucible. My brain... hell, everythin' that makes me into me... heated... melted. Purified. I came back to awareness slow. I felt like - well, t' be truthful? Ain't a single other thing in my life I could even vaguely compare it to. But I felt ... this sounds stupid, I know, but I felt new. Like a snake that sloughed off an old, dead dull skin."
Creeping closer until she was almost in her father's lap, Adimu spoke softly.
"What had happened, Poppa?"
"Don't know that we'll ever know for certain, gal. Best we could figure out, some terrorists that called themselves Purifiers hacked their way into a security computer somewhere in Asia... mebbe Russia. Doesn't really matter. All ended up th' same. They made those nukes launch - other nukes went off in retaliation. Well, don't take a genius t' know how that ended. Death on a global scale. What had hit me was a side effect of that hitting th' trio who had been workin' on me. Death. Not of one person, a hundred people or even a paltry million. Billions of folks. Jean an' Xavier died from brain hemmorages. Frost must've sensed that somethin' was goin' wrong - she somehow shut herself off from it. Left her comatose, but alive."
"It was a mess. World-wide power-outages. Countless bombs kept goin' off until they ran out or there was no-one left to fire them. There was a death toll so big that likely th' total number of dead'll never be known. Entire cities were wiped off th' map along with a few whole countries. Every capital o' any note? Pancakes. World leadership? Well, th' UN got flattened too, if that gives ya a clue. Which it might not - guess it depends if you were payin' attention when Uncle Hank was tryin' t' teach you History."
"Anyway, after findin' himself in th' odd position o' vouchin' fer me, Jimmy an' me teamed up t' help defend th' mansion grounds from the scavenger gangs that seemed t' erupt within hours. Mansion had its own generators an' other things they coveted. Between me, 'Ro an' Jimmy though? They soon decided t' look elsewhere. After about a year of livin' like that, the wilds started callin' to me an' Jimmy again. Just as well as th' old Academy really couldn't support everyone that was staying there by then."
"And that's when all of you came here, Poppa?"
"Yep."
"And is that when you and Momma mated?"
"That's another story."
"Tell it? Please?"
"Everyone finished eating? Alright then, let's get settled around the fire and I'll tell you about it."
As Creed settled into a comfortable position himself, he let his thoughts go back to those days years before and as he spoke, it was as if he was seeing them all over again.