high_seas | Sending a Message

[She knows better than to ask, but... The words still come. Because she has to be sure.]

Why not?

[There's a small pause.]

[It's not all his story to tell, so he tries to figure out how to phrase it the best he can.]

Some like me have already had time fudged up more than your traveling eye Apocalypse can manage.

It's one of the many prices of being a phoenix. Even Ikki says when he goes back, his goal is to force Chronos into submission so he can come traveling with me and Chandra and a few others.

Chandra already used to travel between the stars, and until a few of us here, she didn't have many friends, so there's nothing for her to go back to.

[A much longer hesitation. Thatch and Ace couldn't go back for the same reason. The reason Marco didn't intend to leave until he saw their dreams come true.] Ace and Thatch's dreams can only come true here or traveling the stars with me. Ace, because his ambition is bigger than a world. And Thatch because I'm too selfish to let him go. [Gives her a wry grin.] He's the one who was able to pass me the tip about the seastone... whatever they call it here. Like I said, he's made of darkness, so that he couldn't use that to get away... I thought it would be the navy themselves but -- [He shakes his head.]

In any case, he won't be going back to our world. I won't let him.

[She's used to liars. Especially ones who lie with good intentions. Doesn't mean she can see through it or sort truth from fiction, but she can hear the edges. The little pauses that tell her she isn't getting the whole story.

But that doesn't bother her.

He's just met her. He has no reason to confide in her, just like she doesn't for him. Why she won't tell him everything she's told Logan.

Besides, the base of the truth is there. These people mean a lot to him, and this world isn't so bad. Not when you have someone by your side. And she's not alone now, so she'll be okay.]

Take it we're goin' t' find them next?

Absolutely.

Thatch told me he'll be leaving us a trail.

Either he's getting himself purposely moved to the same place our other brother Namur is, or they're boing getting moved, or just in case, but he said he'll be leaving a trail. Teaching the right people a song.

"Red bird red bird, where do the wild winds blow?
Red bird red bird, where do the flowers grow?"

It'll change the closer we get to tell us where to go next.

"To the East, the West, as high as the sun,
Never stop flying, come sing little one."

If he can't get away with teaching the words to people, he'll teach the tune and leave the song with the birds themselves. Since Leanne, Naesala, Ikki and I all speak it.

Feels like somethin' outta fairy tale. [A pause, a look at the charred symbol.] Or a nightmare.

[But there's no judgment, really, in that phrase. Just acknowledgement. Because it's a harrowing sight. It's supposed to be.

There was something that felt right about it. Looking at the spade on the ground, knowing the heart was in her pocket. Like it was a sign. That, strange as this place was, different as the circumstances seemed to be, she was where she was supposed to be.

Maybe it was time she got away from the Institute. This time with no way to go back. Learned to stand on her own a bit more.]

I've never been in a war before.

But I think I'm gonna be.

[Logan said they were gone. The professor, Jean, Scott. Without them, there would only be more violence. The Institute itself would be in danger. There'd be no avoiding the fighting.]

Guess this'll be the start.

[He nods quietly.]

This was still a vacation from the war for me. I guess we brought it with us.

[That's a strange thought.]

[In both cases he hadn't declared the war or started it, but he'd vowed to finish it.]

[And it reminds him painfully of the idea of what it means to be "Marco" the phoenix, a representative of the god of war all over again.]

My little brother Ikki, the other phoenix... he said there's a god of war, Mars, or Ares. I don't suppose you've heard of him or much about phoenixes, have you?

[He looks out at his own Spade handiwork.] Not that I have sympathy for those who'd help slavers. [Closes his eyes.] All my compassion is from my father, and even he would be terribly angry.

Then again... my father wanted to leave us peace, but his vacancy just brought us more war. Maybe that's the way of all worlds.

I know a little 'bout mythology. Not a lot, but Mister McCoy talks 'bout it some, an' I like readin'.

Know a phoenix is a bird made of flame. An' when it gets old, it flies into the sun an' is reborn in the fire.

[Life, death, rebirth. A purifying flame.]

An' I know a little 'bout Mars and Aries. My world named a planet after 'im. Red one.

[He nods quietly. It matched what he heard from Ikki anyway. But he still didn't know what to do with it.]

[Maybe he's just being paranoid, but then, he's still too paranoid to chalk it all up to coincidence.]

Flying into the sun is a new one. Sounds like fun though, I'll have to remember that sometime and convince Chandra and Ace to let me try it.

Apocalypse is a person, right? Not a weapon, or a war?

Apocalypse...

[She has to think about it. The spade-shaped rubble smolders, and she keeps her eyes on that. She tries, very hard, to keep her tone even, but it doesn't work.

There's anger there. Pain and fear.]

He was a mutant. I don't know what he is.

The Eye of Ages is a weapon, and it runs off his power.

[A pause. Her shoulders falter then pull up straight.]

He lived within it, trapped for five thousand years.

Now, he's trapped again, but he has the powers of some of the most powerful mutants of my world.

Strong telepathy, telekinesis, the ability to create energy, the ability to control flames, the ability to phase through solid objects, the ability to teleport, the ability to alter reality.

An' others.

[All of which she'd delivered to him.]

I don' know what he is, now.

Hm.

Hopefully it's my own paranoia then, eh? The mind seems to spot patterns, and then expect the familiar. Even entire worlds away.

An' mine.

[She wants to be paranoid. She wants to search the world, find no pyramids, find no sign of Apocalypse. But the fear is there.]

He took over the minds of four of the strongest mutants I know, and he turned 'em against the ones they cared 'bout.

[Nods.] There was something like that here, but it wasn't him. And there's something like that in my world too.

[Rubs the back of his neck in thought.] Still, it's strange how some things remain in common even worlds away.

Someone else knew 'im too. Same name, same looks.

[As far as they'd said, at least.]

An' they're from a whole different world, too.

[He runs a hand through his hair, getting flustered.]

I wonder...

[He leans both arms on the railing.] If you wish to hear it, I'll tell you something very secret, eh? I haven't even shared it with my brothers, because it's to protect them. Except Ikki, because he's a phoenix too. You won't be able to mention it to anyone from my world though. It's something that could destroy it, and it's what our world government fears above all else. [He drums his fingers in thought.] Very few know anything about it, and just knowing about it is enough to put a bounty on your head in my world. [He shakes his head, fingers in his hair again, uncharacteristically nervous.] No, more than that. It is so many secrets kept together even I cannot connect all the dots. But those that are even slightly connected were all hunted and killed and the names alone are enough to set those who know anything in my world jumping.

And maybe it is all coincidence, anyway. But if you wish to know, understand that it can never reach someone from my world. Ace wouldn't give a damn, and you can tell Logan, but not many others, it's that troublesome, yoi.

[And Robin would be furious with him. She refused to speak about it already, and Marco hadn't been willing to push it, so that he was trusting people from another world? Marco had no idea how she'd react to that. Furiously, at least. Coldly, at bottom line, and how icily was a degree between a blizzard and Kuzan's ice itself.]

This may sound real stupid, an' I don' mean t' be tellin' you how t' handle your family, but--

[But it all sounds too familiar. Keeping secrets to protect people. Keeping secrets that important.]

Sometimes what you don' tell someone? Is what could get 'em killed.

We got someone where I'm from... Cares 'bout all of us, but he don' tell us a lot. Keeps secrets, tells just jus' what he thinks we need t' know. It's gotten us in trouble before.

So jus'...

Be careful, 'kay? 'Bout what you don' tell 'em.

[That said...]

If y' wanna tell me, though? I won' breathe a word of it. Not t' anyone.

[Not Logan, not any of her team that showed up. If they ever did.

Whatever secret Marco was thinking about trusting her with? She'd take it to her grave.]

[That gets a soft grin out of him.] No, you're right. And most of the time now, I'm trying to tell Ace whatever I can. He gets mad enough to punch me when I don't, and Namur has a big-ass shark mouth, so he can't keep anything secret as it is.

[Glances back out at the ocean.] But this one.... is a bit more complicated.

[Since she promised though, he's trusting that.] There are weapons in my world named after ancient gods. Pluton, Poseidon, Uranus.... The world government is obsessed with doing everything it can to erase them from history. Just one of them could destroy half of the world, and two of them would destroy it entirely. There is an entire century they erased from history, the void century. Which I may or may not know anything about. [A weak grin. He's sticking to Logan's "memory issues" stories for now and no one can stop him.] The study of it is so banned, that the government has destroyed entire islands, entire civilizations, just to prevent its discovery.

We have an old family enemy, named Sir Crocodile. He's not in this world anymore, but for awhile he was. The woman I love -- mah, she won't talk about this kind of thing, so don't ask, but she pretended to help him to thwart him. She knows more about the weapons than even I do, but it made her a wanted criminal when she was only eight years old.

Ikki clued me in to the name similarities. He said they're planets in your star system, but named after the romanization of gods. Ikki himself works... reluctantly mind you, for a goddess. Athena. She defeated her brother Mars... Ares.

[He shakes his hair out yet again.] Coincidence, but....

But the pyramids of my world is where Crocodile went searching for his weapon. He's a sand devil fruit user, so I've no doubt that he just wanted a sandy nation to start over again with, but... those weapons are supposed to bring about the apocalypse. The end of the world.

If that symbol was in our world, the only woman who would recognize it is Robin. And I couldn't tell you if she'd even admit to knowing it if she did recognize it. I tried to ask her about my own name... Marco, eh? Named for a god of war, but sharing the name of planets and weapons... Mah, [Another headshake.] But she refused to discuss it. And truth told, it's not something I want to think much on. I don't believe in fate, and especially not the way Blackbeard does, so even if my name means something like that, then what matters is what I do with it, eh? And that.... [A small sigh.] Is probably obvious what I'm doing with it.

[He waves a hand.] But if what you said is all applicable, then maybe he is just waiting for the world to be ready to destroy itself to wake up.

And if that's the case, you ought to be very careful about waking him up even accidentally.

Robin has my love because she is so much like my father. She could destroy the world quite easily, but it's not what she wants at all. She just wants the love of a family and to protect her captain, as I do mine. I admire her because of how stubbornly she protects those things, the faint knowledge, even for all the struggles it brings her.

[Marco shoots a sideglance at Rogue.] Then again, Ikki warned me if I am like Mars, in mythologies he was fairly obsessed with the goddess of knowledge and wisdom and flowers. All of which describes Robin uncannily.

[Another sigh and Marco huffs on his cigarette, missing Thatch all over again.] It is what it is.

Like I said, there are some dots I cannot see to connect yet. Too many things to isolate the pattern, and I don't know what to do with them yet.

Logically I am sure this war would be here without me, that my brothers would have been in worse danger if I wasn't around to find them again. Logically, the sheer odds that this is all the doing of one single person.... shouldn't make me think it's more likely. But it does. Like I said before. If that is the case, it might explain some things... but it begs a lot more questions too.

Logan, I haven't told him any of all that yet. Because his regeneration is like my own, we have similar enough problems as it is. [Government experiment... oi. More things Marco doesn't want to think heavily about.] And truth told, I'm not sure any of it means anything yet. I said before the mind leaps to make patterns, maybe where there are none.

[He thinks more on it and nods to himself.] I'll need to ask Leanne about her goddess too. I know my anger troubles her, and ah... ask anyone on this ship about her island, and you'll get some very mixed answers. But if I remember correctly, there was an end of the world safeguard with her too, eh?

[Mars. Athena. Weapons. The end of the world. Apocalypse.

It all swirls in Rogue's head. She tries to pin it all down, but that'll come later, and she knows it. Right now, it's about impressions. Not so much what she hears but how she hears it. What sticks out and what washes over her mind. She'll turn it all over later, examine it when she's alone. But for now...

One part sticks in her mind.

You ought to be very careful about waking him up even accidentally.

That requires a confession.

Given quietly, warily:]

I already did wake him up.

[She's told Logan, confessed it to him. Now, it's time to tell Marco.

Rogue swallows hard and leans against a tree to brace herself.]

There's someone with telepathy in my world called Mesmero. He can... put all but the strongest under his control. He teamed up with Mystique -- who can change her shape.

Mesmero... got into my head.

He sent me after all of 'em. Professor Xavier, the strongest telepath there is, I think. Storm can control the weather. Jean Gray, telepath and telekinetic. Scott, who's got lasers for eyes, basically. Kitty -- she can phase through solid objects. Kurt can teleport. Wanda manipulates reality, and Lance can move the ground. Fred's practically indestructible, Toad's flexible, an' Pietro's fast. Pyro can manipulate flame; Sabertooth's strong and damn near indestructable; Colossus has strength and can turn his skin to metal. Gambit's a thief and can charge inanimate objects with kinetic energy, and Magneto can manipulate metal.

[It's strange, in a way, to list them off so easily. To out what they can do. But it matters. He needs to understand how many powers she collected and how potent all of them are. Especially combined.]

Got Mystique's powers, too.

I didn' even know I did it. Can' even remember doin' it, now. Mesmero kept my mind pretty blocked.

But he led me right t' Apocalypse, an' he got hold of me.

Took all those powers and all that life force an' came back.

All I did was trap 'im again. Later. Didn't put him t' sleep or anythin'. Just helped trap 'im.

[A slow nod.]

[He's not even surprised somehow. Not with everything else he's seen and dealt with by now.]

[The fact that she trusted him with the accidentally manipulated betrayal of her team doesn't go unnoticed either. Marco's reminded again of Chameleone, who could borrow other people's powers too, but the difference again is that Rogue is completely upfront with everything. Her goals, what bothers her, what happened. Things that neither Chameleone nor Blackbeard ever showed, even when Marco had them cornered. Even when they could have trusted the crew, had they not been intending betrayal from the start. No, intentions may not mean as much to others, but they were the world of difference for Marco. He could forgive a screw-up every single time, but never someone who purposely crossed the lines laid out before them. Not even once.]

In your world, eh? It strikes me that it's probably a different set of circumstances each time.

Same person or not, if he's skipping about worlds and times, and needing to recharge, then it might have gone in a loop, eh? [He gestures with his fingers.] From your perspective he was sleeping, got charged by you and woke up. Then you trapped him again. But for all you know, if he went back around in a timeloop using other worlds then he would need to set a same set of circumstances to charge him back up again, aye? Or it could even be where he went back, charged himself when everyone thought he was sleeping and skipped off to another world to try to take over, or needing another set of events to fall in place for him to get what he wants.

It's hard to explain, but to use Crocodile again, he tried to become the pirate king, but in our section of the ocean, he got his ass kicked pretty badly and had to start all over again, without a crew or friends or anything. That's why he was looking for one of those weapons. Because nothing else would be strong enough to help him reach his goal.

If Apocalypse is here, he might be waiting for the right things to charge him up again or release, or wake him. And what better way to do that than to convince the person who did it the first time?

Worse. Let's say there's different keys in every world, eh? What better way than to gather all those people together using a completely different proxy.

[A sigh and he closes his eyes.] If Chandra was here we could ask her. She's traveled between worlds and knows more about that and magic things, than anyone else I've ever met. Although I half suspect wherever she is, she accidentally messed something up... because I know she wouldn't leave without me and my brothers, and she's not as foolhardy as my brothers about slavery. If someone tried to get one of those collars or cuffs on her, we'd have heard of an entire island blowing up first. Her temper is almost worse than Ace's like that. But she did accidentally turn a chicken into a lizard thing, and she has done some crazy stuff with experimenting with her magic, ever since we were on Leanne's island.

In my world, there were three doors. An' a fourth key needed -- me.

[She considered it for a moment, biting her lip. Her arms crossed, and her shoulders roll back. She can't help but wonder, try to think how this could all layer up right.]

Three rings an' a rod made the first key.

A ghost guardian destroyed opened the second door.

Mystique was the third key -- changed shape t' get through a small part of the door an' touchin' the symbol.

Then me. T' give him power.

[Rogue closed her eyes, trying to think. To put all of this into words. Because she feels it, understands the perilous nature of this.]

That's why this jewel worries me. Y'know?

We're all runnin' 'round, lookin' for it. An' assumin' it ain' just a distraction.

[Another nod.] My thoughts exactly.

And we already have ghost guardians if you count Davy Jones. And making a key like that, well in my world we have a wax devil fruit user who was able to do that... Here, who knows, eh?

[A small sigh.] Let's be careful, eh? Anything that strikes you too much as similar, you let me know, and I'll follow my instincts.

[He closes his eyes as though listening to something.] They haven't led me off yet.

[Rogue gives a sharp nod.]

I'll be sure t' tell you.

[And. Well. If they're sharing. It's... It's worth saying.]

There's...

The other person I mentioned? Who know what sounds like th' same Apocalypse?

She tol' me somethin', an'... I think she's right. It makes sense.

But...

[It was fair. She'd made her promise, after all.]

Y' can' tell Logan. Or anyone who shows up an' knows 'bout the X-Men.

[He nods right back.] Agreed, since you promised not to scare my brothers, eh? [Or anyone else from his world.]

The other person who knew 'bout 'im? Told me how he's s'posed tt' be able t' fall.

If his oown powers are used against 'im.

[Somethign her power allowed her to do. Equipped her to do better than a lot of other people.]

...An' they said it'd prob'ly kill th' person who does it.

[Marco arches an eyebrow at her.]

[He more or less suspected she'd have to use the same powers back on him, but killing her too...]

[He drags a palm down his face, just barely avoiding messing up his cigarette.]

Heroes and martyrs. Just once I'd like to make an ally of someone more selfish than myself.

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1/2

2/3 I was wrong