The last thing Marie expected to see when she opened her eyes was Logan staring down at her. His concern soon gave way to relief, but, to Marie’s shock, there was no hatred. She had probably almost killed him, but there was still so much love in her eyes. As much as there had been before they had discovered her powers.
Reaching up a hand, Marie lightly cupped his cheek. “Ya shouldn’t be here, Logan. Ah’ll only hurt ya more.”
At the feel of his lips against her wrist, tears filled Marie’s eyes. “I’m all right, darlin’. Not a scratch on me.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that Ah hurt ya,” Marie whispered, lowering her hand and turning her face away from Logan.
His hand on her cheek turned her face back towards him. “I heal fast, Marie. It only hurt for a few minutes. It was over almost as soon as it started.”
Marie pushed herself into a seated position and slid to her feet, keeping the bed between her and Logan. Truth was, she wanted nothing more than to let Logan hold her, but she couldn’t trust herself near him. Not after what she had done to him. She had flung him around and twisted him up like a pretzel. It was a wonder that he could even stand to look at her after that.
“Ya should go, Logan. It’s not safe fer ya ‘round here. Ah could hurt ya again an’ Ah don’t wanna do that,” Marie pleaded, retreating until her back collided with the cold wall of the infirmary.
Logan glanced down at his hands and began to rub his knuckles. When he looked at her again, there was an almost wistful expression on his face. “Do you remember what you said to me that night at your house? I was bound and determined to sleep downstairs because I was scared that I’d stab you if I had a nightmare. You wouldn’t let me do that, though. I was completely terrified that I’d hurt you, but you told me that you were the one who had to worry about getting stabbed and you weren’t,” There was a tiny smile playing on Logan’s lips as he slowly made his way around the bed towards her. “You weren’t the least bit scared about what I could do to you. I couldn’t believe that you trusted me like that. So I went upstairs with you ‘cause you trusted me. Well, I trust you. I know that you could hurt me, but it doesn’t matter because you wouldn’t be doing it on purpose.”
“Logan....” Marie moaned, tears filling her eyes, making her vision blurry.
“I’m not scared of you, Marie,” Logan murmured, cupping her cheeks in his hands. He stared down at her upturned face and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll never be scared of you.”
Marie sniffled, her voice cracking as she spoke. “How... how c-come?”
“Mainly ‘cause I love you,” Logan said with a grin. His face sobered as he began to wipe the tears from her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. “I know that there’s not a lot that I know. Everything that I know, except for my name, was taken from me. Hell, I’m not even sure my name’s really Logan. I could really have some shit name like Mortimer-”
“Hey! I heard that!”
Logan growled warningly and spun his head around to glare at the other mutant who Marie hadn’t even noticed until then. “Shut up, Toad, or I’ll forcefully remove that tongue of yours.”
“I’ll be going now.”
Logan’s face softened again once Toad had left and he turned back to her. “Point is, Marie, I know nothing about myself or anything else going on around me except for you. You are all that I know, darlin’. You’re all I wanna know. You mean everything to me and I never wanna lose you.”
Marie’s tears became so great that she was no longer able to hold herself up and collapsed against Logan. Feeling his arms go around her, it was all that Marie could do not to hold onto him like she longed to.
“Ah did... did this ‘cause Ah thought that... thought that Ah could protect ya,” Marie told him between sobs. “If Ah was a mutant Ah... Ah could keep t-them from hurtin’ ya....”
Logan only held her tighter and placed a kiss against the top of her head. “You seem to be forgetting the fact that you’re the one who saved me. You didn’t have any powers when you did that and I’m still here standing.”
Marie shook her head, pulling back so that she could stare up at Logan’s face. “That’s not true. Ah didn’t save ya. Erik did. Ah just happened t’ be there at the time.”
“You were the reason I kept fighting,” Logan whispered, running his fingers through her hair. “I knew that you were out there somewhere and that it would all be over as soon as I saw you.... And it was. You were the first person I saw that didn’t hurt me. You helped me sit up and held me in your arms. That’s what saved me, Marie. You being there when I needed you.”
Unable to fight anymore, Marie simply gave in and held onto him, sobbing against his chest. Logan scooped her up in his arms and pressed his face against the top of her head. Marie could feel him taking her somewhere, but didn’t lift her head to see where they were going. At that moment, she didn’t want to know. All that mattered to her was that Logan didn’t hate her like she knew he should. He had every reason to hate her after what had happened in their room and he was still there. Holding her and kissing her and telling her that everything was going to be all right. She could almost believe that everything really was going to be all right.
“Are you sure that is wise, Logan?” Erik asked, snapping Marie from her thoughts. Lifting her head, she came face to face with the older mutant. “Marie’s powers are still very unstable and she may inadvertently cause you some harm.”
“Don’t care,” Logan said with a shrug. “Marie needs me right now and that’s all that matters.”
“I believe that what she needs is me. I will be able to train her to control her powers so that we don’t have a relapse of her earlier experience,” Erik pointed out, his voice not demanding or threatening, simply pointing out a fact.
Logan looked down at her, his eyes full of concern. “Do you wanna stay here with him, darlin’? Let him help you?”
Marie nodded her head immediately. “I want to make sure that I won’t hurt you again, Logan. I won’t be a danger to you if I can help it.”
“All right,” Logan muttered, with a resigned sigh. He set her down on her feet, keeping his hands on her waist to ensure that she wouldn’t topple over. When she didn’t, Logan took his hands away.
“It would undoubtedly be best for you to leave now, Logan,” Erik suggested. “We don’t want to have another accident. I am certain that you will find your dog out in the garden with Victor.”
Logan gave Erik a steady look before turning to Marie and tilting her chin up with a finger so that he could press a soft kiss to her lips. “You need me, just come running.”
“I will,” Marie promised, kissing him again.
Marie watched Logan go, an ache forming in the pit of her stomach as soon as he was gone. She hadn’t really realized, until then, how much of a calming effect he had one her. As long as she was with him, Marie felt completely safe. Alone with Erik, Marie wasn’t feeling quite so safe. She felt nervous.
“Mah powers are like yers, aren’t they?” Marie asked him, nervously running a hand through her hair. She caught sight of a flash of white hair mixed in with the dark brown and her eyes widened in surprise. Grabbing hold of a section of it, Marie pulled it in front of her face to examine it better. “How on earth did this happen? Ah don’t remember havin’ white hair.”
“That would be a side effect of the procedure,” Erik informed her.
Searching the room with her eyes, Marie caught sight of a mirror. She gasped when she saw her reflection in it. On either side of her face, in place of her normally dark brown bangs, were two streaks of pure white hair. The contrast was sharp and Marie was oddly transfixed by them.
“Is this gonna be permanent?” Marie inquired, turning back to the old man. “Am Ah always gonna have white hair?”
“I am afraid that those two streaks will be permanent. If you do not like them, you can simply dye them out. I’m sure that normal hair dye will cover them,” Erik said absently and Marie could tell that he was bored with their present conversation.
“Ah like ‘em,” Marie told him, fingering the strands once again. She let her hands fall to her side then and met Erik’s eyes. “Now teach me how t’ use mah powers.”
“Very well then, let us move to a location with few metals.”
Marie followed Erik willingly, not having any reason not to trust him. As soon as they stepped out of the room and turned to head deeper into the bowels of the compound, Marie felt a needle prick her in the neck.
“Ah, Mystique. So good of you to join us,” Erik drawled, a dark smile appearing on his face. “Get her to the jet while I contact Toad.”
Marie moaned as he world started spinning out of control. “Logan....”