“I don’t see why I can’t go in there,” Marie said softly, her voice a little hoarse. “Logan needs me. He’s gotta be goin’ insane.”
“I would think that he nearly strangled you would be reason enough to stay away from him,” Jean said caustically from over at the medlab’s main computer. “Logan poses a major threat to everyone in the mansion and if I had it my way the Professor would get him as far away from here as possible.”
Marie gasped, turning to glare at the other woman. “How dare you say that! This is Logan’s home! What is happenin’ to him is not his fault! If Scooter had just given me a little more time I could have saved Logan before Magneto got to him! This wouldn’t be happening if you had just let me save him!”
“I am not saying that this is Logan’s fault,” Jean said with an exasperated sigh. “Anything but. All that I am trying to make you realize is that Logan is dangerous in his present condition. There is no telling what he is capable of if he would strangle you.”
“It’s not like he did it willingly,” Marie hissed, her fingers absently touching her neck. “You have eyes, Jean. You can see that this is killin’ Logan. Gawd, Jeanie, how can you not see it? Keepin’ Logan locked up in that room is not what he needs right now. So please just give me the code to the Danger Room so I can go in and be with him.”
Jean ignored her completely, turning back to her work. “It’s not going to happen, Rogue. Logan is a mindless savage at the moment and for all we know he’ll tear you limb from limb as soon as you go in there.”
“You bitch!” Marie shrieked, launching herself at the other woman. “Don’t you ever say that about Logan! You have no right!”
The only reason that Marie got close enough to tackle the other woman was that she had caught Jean off guard. As soon as Jean did, however, she used her powers to levitate Marie off of her and across the room where she would do no harm. Unfortunately for Jean, it wasn’t before Marie managed to punch her in the jaw.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Jean bellowed, wiping away the blood that was dripping from the corner of her mouth. “Have you completely lost your mind, Rogue?”
“You mean like Logan?” Marie snarled, glaring at the older woman. “Please just give me the code to the Danger Room. I know that it’s probably not gonna be the smartest thing that I ever do, but I need to go in there. If it was Scott, you’d do the same.”
“If it was Scott that was losing his mind, I wouldn’t be attacking people. I would be doing everything in my power to figure out a way to help him,” Jean hissed, using a sterilized cloth to clean the cut.
“But you’re a doctor, you can do somethin’ useful to help him that way,” Marie reminded the doctor, her eyes tearing up. “I’m completely helpless right now. All that I can do is worry about Logan and it’s drivin’ me crazy.”
“Well all you’re doing right now is distracting me from helping Logan,” Jean informed her, sitting back down in her seat. “I’m going to let you go now, Rogue, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t attack me again.”
In control of her limbs once again, Marie glared at Jean then stormed out of the medlab. One way or another, Marie was getting into the Danger Room. So if Jean wouldn’t give her the code to the main entrance, she would just have to find an alternate route. At that moment, Marie had absolutely no idea what she was going to do. She would figure that out when she got in there. And get in there she would. Because of Jean, Marie had spent a day and a half in a morphine induced coma. In the five hours she had been awake since then, Marie had been given only a brief glimpse of Logan through the Danger Room’s view window.
Marie stopped dead in her tracks. That was it! Marie felt like such an idiot for not thinking of it sooner. There was no lock in the viewing room. Xavier had designed it that way so that the students training for the team could come and go as they pleased and watch the older team members practicing in the Danger Room. All that Marie needed to do in order to get into the Danger Room from there was to throw one of the heavy metal chairs through the window and climb down into the main area of the Danger Room with one of the mountain climbing ropes that were kept in the gym.
Now that she had a plan of action, Marie all but ran to the gym. She didn’t want what she was doing to be too obvious. It would be of no shock to them that she was going to the viewing room. However, they would remark on her trip to the gym.
As she passed the locked door that led into the Danger Room, Marie paused and raised her fingertips to the cool metal. “I’ll find a way to fix everythin’, Logan. I promise.”
There was no one in the gym when Marie slipped inside. It was completely empty which meant that no one would notice her sneaking off with the ropes right away. By the time anyone realized what she was doing, Marie would already be with Logan. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, Logan needed her. He needed to know that she was alive and that she didn’t blame him for what happened. Anyone else telling him that wouldn’t mean anything to Logan. He needed to see her and hear the words from her.
Peering through the viewing window into the Danger Room, Marie felt her heart clench. Logan was still sitting in the centre of massive underground structure, his knees drawn up to his chest. He was shaking so badly that Marie could see it from where she was and completely naked.
So lost in his own pain, Logan didn’t react when Marie threw the metal chair five times before she finally broke through the glass. Tying the rope off to one of the large pipes that stuck out of the wall, Marie cleared the broken glass off the edge of the platform before tossing the rope down into the Danger Room. The rope was about fifteen feet too short, but Marie had jumped farther than that and would be able to make it with no problems.
Since climbing wasn’t exactly one of Marie’s strong points, it took her a little longer than she would have liked. Through it all, Logan paid her no mind. He was too lost in his own pain to care about what was going on around him.
Marie landed on the ground in a crouch, the only sound being the slight crunching of glass under her feet. Once she had her balance, Marie sprinted towards Logan, barely even noticing her knees slamming into the ground as she knelt down next to him.
“Logan, look at me,” Marie said, cupping his face in her hands. “Come on, babe, let me see those beautiful eyes of yours.”
As soon as he looked at her, Logan let out a pained cry and pulled away from her. “Noooo.... I’m sorry I killed you. I didn’t mean to, darlin’. I swear I didn’t. I’d never hurt you....”
Marie crawled forward, sliding her fingers into his thick hair. “You didn’t kill me, Logan. I’m right here,” Marie assured him, wiping the tears from his face with the pads of her thumbs. “Hank said I have so much of you in me that I just healed right up.”
Logan shook his head, his tears falling harder. Whimpering deep in the back of his throat, Logan pushed himself away from Marie. The fear was clearly distinguishable in his eyes and Marie wished that she could figure out a way to take that fear away. Wiping away her own tears, Marie slowly inched her way towards Logan, relieved that he wasn’t backing away any longer.
“Logan, look at me,” Marie said softly, reaching a hand out towards him. As much as she wanted to take him in her arms, Marie wasn’t completely sure that it was the right thing to do. So, instead, she let her hand hover millimeters above his skin, waiting for Logan to make the first move.
“You’re dead,” Logan insisted, turning his head towards her. His eyes were so filled with tears that Marie knew he wasn’t really looking at her, but at a hazy outline of her. “I killed you so you’re not really here. You’re dead and it’s my fault. I took you away from Kristyn and Braeden. And they’re so young, that I don’t know if they’ll be able to remember you when they get older. I did that and I’ll never forgive myself for that.”
“You have nothin’ to forgive yourself for, babe,” Marie was quick to assure him, placing her hand on his arm. “I’m not dead, Logan. Listen, sugah. Can you hear my heart beatin’? It’s beatin’ good and strong. You didn’t kill me.”
Logan squeezed his eyes shut tight and pulled his lips in between his teeth, biting down on them. Not wanting to startle him, but unable to see him hurting so badly, Marie scooted onto her knees and brushed a light kiss against his temple.
The reaction was not one that Marie had been expecting.
With a strangled cry, Logan practically yanked her off the ground and into his arms. Gently urging him to lower his knees, Marie straddled his waist and sat down on his thighs so that they could hold each other closer. Logan was shaking so much that the tremors that quaked through his body were transferred to her so that she was trembling just as badly.
“Shhhh.... Just relax, sugah. It’s okay now. Everything’s okay. And once Jeanie and Hank figure out how to get those things outta your head everythin’ will be perfect again,” Marie whispered in his ear as she massaged the thick corded muscles at the back of his throat.
Logan pressed his face against her shoulder, a whining noise escaping his throat as he clutched Marie tightly against him.
“Rogue, what the hell are you doing in here?!”
Marie chose not to acknowledge Jean. Instead, she kept her attention on Logan who obviously needed it far more than the redheaded doctor did. He was shaking less, but Marie could still feel the pain that enveloped him as though it were her own. It would be a long time before Logan learned to accept what had happened as something out of his control.
Apparently, Jean did not like that because Marie soon felt herself being torn from Logan’s arms by invisible hands. A rumbling erupted deep in Logan’s throat, but nothing Marie did lessened the telepath’s hold on her. Marie knew that leaving Logan then would do nothing but harm, though none of the messages Marie was shouting to Jean in her mind seemed to be getting through. Or, if they did, Jean didn’t seem to care that taking her away would only hurt Logan.
Logan reacted to this like a man possessed. He lurched to his feet and stalked towards Jean, his claws popping free with an audible snikt! In a panic, Jean let Marie go almost immediately, but it did nothing to slow Logan’s progress towards her.
“You can’t take her away from me. She’s mine,” Logan growled, grabbing Jean by the throat and pinning her to the wall. Logan got right into her face, snarling at the doctor. “I didn’t kill her. Marie’s alive and she’s staying right here with me.”
Rushing forward, Marie placed a hand on Logan’s arm, carefully drawing it away from Jean’s throat. At her touch, Logan’s grip went entirely lax and he let Marie guide his arm away from Jean’s throat. Turning him towards her, Marie gathered Logan into her arms. She was startled when he suddenly dropped to his knees, but did her best not to react to it outwardly.
“I didn’t kill you. I didn’t kill you. I didn’t kill you,” Logan mumbled continuously under his breath as he clutched at Marie.
“That’s right, sugah. You didn’t kill me,” Marie said softly, resting her head atop his. “I’m right here and I’m not goin’ anywhere.”
As she said the last, Marie kept her eyes trained on Jean to make sure that she got the point.
~*~*~*~*~
“Let me make him kill all those leather wearin’ fuckers,” Creed grumbled as he stalked before Erik’s desk. “I don’t see why the fuck you’re waitin’ so long. This coulda been done with a long time ago.”
Erik rolled his eyes. “There is a time and a place for everything, Creed. We must let Charles believe that he is safe then we will strike.”
“Where’s the balls in that?”
“The ‘balls,’ as you so eloquently phrased it, does not matter one way or the other,” Erik informed his hairy associate. “The end is what is important. And that, my friend, is the annihilation of Charles and his precious X-Men.”
“I couldn’t have put it better myself,” a faintly accented feminine voice offered from within the shadows.
“Ahh, Alayna. Thank you for joining us,” Erik said, turning towards the woman with a fond smile on his face.