Marvel: The Journey

December 1975,

"Hehehe!"

"Hahaha!"

The kids in the garden outside Xavier's school were throwing snowballs at each other and playing. Some of them were making a snowman and having a competition over who would be the first to finish making it. The Christmas spirit hadn't dimmed down due to the snow. Some kids were decorating the school and the garden. They were placing lights on the trees, on the pavement, and, on the doors.

Val was watching all of this with a content smile on his face. He was sitting on a bench near the gate of the school. He felt happy seeing the smiles on the kids' faces. While he was doing this, he noticed Remus walking toward him, wearing a thick coat. Her red hair bopped with every step that she took. She arrived and sat beside him on the bench.

Like him, she, too, watched the kids play and fight with each other with a smile on her face. They didn't speak and continued to watch until she broke the silence, "You know... when I asked you to kill Romulus, I expected you to simply kill him like sever his head or something." She turned her head to look at him and continued, "I didn't expect you to blast him across the world."

She narrowed her eyes and asked suspiciously, "You have been hiding your strength, haven't you?"

Val looked at her with an innocent expression on his face and asked, "Strength? What strength? I don't have any strength to hide."

Remus rolled her eyes and looked back at the kids. She knew he wouldn't accept it. She didn't care anyway. She was simply asking. She continued to watch the kids for a few more seconds until she asked, "W-What did you do with him?"

Val sighed and leaned back on the bench. He remained silent for a few seconds until he replied, "His body couldn't handle it and got blown into smithereens. His head survived, though. And I kept it."

Remus looked at him and asked with a confused expression on her face, "Why?"

"Are you sure you want to know?", Val asked her while raising his eyebrows.

Remus rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, please! I've been alive since the Roman Empire. I've seen and done things you would never want to do. I can take it. Come on, spill it out. Why did you keep his head?"

Val nodded and replied, "Because he is one of the Lupus Sapiens except you and I know someone who would be very excited to accept his head for a huge amount of money."

"Who?", Remus asked.

Val replied, "His name is Taneleer Tivan also known as The Collector."

Remus tried to search for someone with that name in her memory but couldn't find it. She shrugged and stretched her hand toward him. Val shook it and she said, "Thank you for killing him and fulfilling our deal."

Val smiled and replied, "No problem." He looked around and asked, "Did you do what I told you to do?"

Remus nodded and replied, "Yes. Logan and Victor are in the same room right now. They're probably wondering what's going on."

Val smiled and said, "Thank you." However, a mischievous grin appeared on his face and he pulled her closer to him, and whispered in her ear, "Speaking of Logan, I've been hearing about Kayla and you fighting over him and I've been really curious... Who get's the first dibs on him at night?"

Remus pushed him away and stood up. She glared at him while blushing and replied, "Humph! It's none of your business."

Val grinned and watched her hurriedly walk away.

. . .

In one of the rooms in the school,

Logan and Victor were sitting on the chairs and staring at each other. Both of them were confused. They didn't know why they were asked to sit there. Also, Logan forgave Victor for what he did to Kayla. Remus explained that Victor wasn't him and he was being controlled by Romulus. She also explained to him about Romulus and her. Surprisingly, after he found out that he was dead, he had no problem accepting her love for him.

Logan asked him, "Did Remus put you up to this?"

Victor nodded and replied, "Yeah... your girl made me do it."

Logan cleared his throat and looked away causing Victor to smile slyly.

He asked, "Why do you think she did it? Is she going to surprise us by saying that she's pregnant or something?"

Logan immediately shouted, "What?! Absolutely not!!"

Seeing Victor snicker, Logan grunted and looked away at the door.

At the same time, the door opened quietly and somebody stepped inside.

Logan's eyes widened in disbelief and seeing him like that, Victor laughed and asked, "What happened? What's with that silly look?"

However, when he turned toward the door his eyes widened too.

Standing in front of them was Val but with the same hair and eye color he had when he was Ian Westbrook. He closed the door behind him, smiled at them, and said, "Hey, guys. It's me... Ian."

For a few seconds, both of them silently stared at Val until Logan shouted as he stood up, "Impossible!!"

He turned to Victor and asked, "You see this? You see this shit?"

Victor reluctantly nodded and replied, "Y-Yes... I can see him."

Logan shook his head vehemently and said, "No way! There's no way!"

Victor looked at him and asked, "What happened? Why are you being this way? It's just Ian. I am surprised by him being here."

"It's not just Ian!!", Logan looked at Victor and shouted, "He's supposed to be dead!!"

"Dead? What?", Victor was confused by him.

Logan looked back at Val and...

* SHLICKK *

His Adamantium claws popped out of his hands and he stared at Val menacingly. He took a stance and threatened, "Prove it to me that you're him. You're Ian. Or else. I swear I'll gut you this instant, bub."

Val smiled and said, "Okay. How about this?" He pointed at Logan and said, "Before joining the army, your blood was tested and it was found to be a new blood group. You told me that you are the only person in the entire world who had the blood group Type E."

He pointed at Victor and said, "And you... you like Japanese women the most. Because the way the-"

"Stop!!", Logan shouted and Val stopped. He looked at Val and said, "We had that talk after we captured a few Japanese soldiers in the islands."

His claws got back inside his hands and he walked over to Val. He stared at him in the eyes and then...

"I've missed you, brother.", Logan confessed as he hugged him.

Val sighed heavily and hugged him back and confessed, "I've missed you, too. I really did."

Victor also came over and all three of them hugged each other and Val confessed, "I missed both of you. I missed you a lot."

After a few seconds of hugging each other, they let go and sat on the chairs.

Logan smiled and asked, "So... who's goin' to begin?"

Val pointed at Victor and said, "Let's start with you, Victor. Where have you been? All I know is that you and Bucky fell off the train while capturing Arnim Zola. What happened after that?"

Victor sighed and began, "After we fell off the train, I woke up and thanks to my mutant power my wounds were healed. I looked around and searched for Bucky. But, I couldn't find his body no matter how hard I tried. I realized that my efforts were useless. And that his body was either under the snow or over it like ketchup. Then, I just... left and lived my life the way I wanted. I knew that the war ended a few months after I fell which I stopped caring about. I traveled across Europe. I stole, killed, beat, fucked... basically, I did what I wanted. That was the life I had always longed for. To not be chained down by laws and morals. Free to do whatever one wants. I was fucking happy with my life for once. However... all good things come to an end.

One day, in a bar, a man came up to me and told me that another one was looking for me. Of course, I was suspicious. What if the person looking for me was from the police? What if it was someone who wanted to kill me? However, I accepted it when he said that the man wanted someone dead and he knew that I was the right person for the job. I felt that it was an easy opportunity to make some quick cash and I took it.

But... when I went there, I saw him - Romulus. I wasn't intimidated. I looked at his body and thought that it was strange that he wanted a hitman even with a body like that. We... talked. You could barely call it that. He stopped and I continued for minutes. I didn't know when in our conversation, I was telling him about me and he was listening to it. When I realized it, I stopped. I got the details of the target and got out. I knew it was weird but I thought that it was just me being suspicious.

I was wrong. Very wrong. Because the next time I met him after killing the target, he had caught me. He did something weird to me. I don't know how he did it. Remus said that it was a hypnotic suggestion. Maybe because the air in the warehouse we met had a weird scent. He just sat there and told me to do things. And... I just obeyed his orders. I hated that. I fucking hated it. It was like I was in the backseat and somebody else was driving. I did so many things... things I didn't want to do. I killed children, infants, hell... I even ripped an unborn out of it's mother's womb. God! I hated how she screamed. And... all of it came to an end after I got back control of my body a few weeks ago and I fucking escaped that hellhole. I never ever want to be in the backseat. It's fucking horrible. I had to endure 25 years of that shit!!!"

Val sighed and patted his back to calm him down, and he said, "At least he won't be able to do that to someone else anymore. I killed him."

Victor looked at him and said, "That was my story. Now, it's your turn."

Val thought, 'Even though they are my friends, I won't tell them the real reason I went to Auschwitz. Because they shouldn't know. What would be the use of them knowing about Yggdrasil? Dormammu? What should I say to them - that I went there to take Erik and Shaw's blood to experiment on it? There's no use in that. What if I reveal the truth and some villain with telepathic powers captures them and reads their mind... then, I am fucked. Utterly fucked. Completely fucked. I have so many enemies. I can live comfortably if I maintain secrecy over my life. They are my friends. I can help them. No! I will help them in the future. But... some secrets are better left as secrets.'

Val sighed and began, "I was with the Soviets marching toward Berlin. I heard that we would liberate Auschwitz first. And, I foolishly thought that if I sneaked inside and captured the main leader of the camp I would be considered a war hero. Promotions, medals, women. I would have it all. I was over-confident and cocky. I went there, and sneaked inside but... I was found out. One of the guards caught me and sounded the alarm. I got out of the building and ran to the gates. One of the soldiers shot a blue beam at me which I dodged but it hit the oil tank beside me. It exploded and I was flung out of the camp. I landed on the ground. I thought I was going to die before I lost consciousness.

But... when I woke up, I was inside a room. I don't know how I got there or who put me there. To this day, I don't know. But, whoever it was, saved my life. After that, I mostly stayed indoors and used my brain to do some experiments. Experiments which I always talked about to both of you. Experiments that were my dreams. And... one of the experiments turned me into Starlance. And... that's basically it."

"Wow!", Victor exclaimed and Logan nodded approvingly.

"But...", Val smiled and crossed his arms, and continued, "... after all these years, me and Victor are still single. Still lonely. Whereas you, James have got not one but two women."

Logan looked away and Val continued, "You better be careful, James. One of them might stab you out of jealousy at night."

Logan smirked and replied, "So what? It ain't like I'd die from it, eh."

"Aha!", Val exclaimed and pointed at Logan, and said, "So, that means, you like it."

Val looked at Victor who smirked and said, "Manwhore."

Val turned back to Logan and said, "Yup, you're a manwhore."

"I ain't a manwhore!! You fuckers!!", Logan shouted while Val and Victor laughed hysterically.