Title: Summer Nights
Author: jmccall93
Email: jmccall93@aol.com
Rating: PG-13 (slight cussing, this fic does have Wolverine after all!)
Disclaimer: Don't sue. I do not and never will own X-Men. I would love to own Logan though!
Feedback: Please. Good and bad.
Summary: Pure Logan/Marie fic. What happens when Logan returns?
Archive: What's this? Someone please tell me!
He found himself propelled in this direction. He couldn't explain the why or the how of it. After all, he was Wolverine. He had no past, no future. He lived in the now of thought. That was what started this trip. A need to find his past so that he might have a future. There was just some indescribable need in him he had to fulfill. Logan thought back to last night and what brought it all on.
Logan woke up again from one of his nightmares. They were happening more and more often and were getting more and more desperate. He went over to his jacket, pulled a piece of material out of the pocket, and brought it to his mouth and nose to breath in the faint fragrance left behind. The girl it belonged to didn't wear perfumes or any such silly nonsense so the fabric smelled entirely of her. Whenever he had really bad nights this little piece of material seemed to soothe him. He went to the bed and lay back down with the material wrapped around his fingers. The smell wasn't as strong as it used to be. He wasn't even sure how long it had been. Tomorrow. First thing. He'd have to go back. Go back to where he knew the smell came from. Had to see HER. Maybe she could ease his discomfort. Logan drifted off into a fitful slumber.
Logan pulled up to the sprawling house and climbed off of the bike. Scott came out at once fuming and cursing at Logan. "About damn time, Logan. At least it's all in one piece. I'll give you that!" Logan just ignored him and kept walking up the steps into the school.
By now he had the fabric out of his pocket and in his hands, rubbing it absentmindedly. There was no activity in the halls when he stepped inside. Before he could get his bearings again a bell rang out and suddenly the stairs and halls were swarming with mutant teens leaving their classes. Then he saw her. Marie, that was her name. How could her memory have faded in his mind?
She knew him through and through like no one else ever had. She had a piece of his soul in her head from when he'd almost died, twice, just to save this slip of a girl he'd found in a bar. The sight of her made his breath catch in his chest. She looked older and more filled out. She no longer looked like the young girl he left in Xavier's care. (How long has it been Logan?)
He noticed something else. She held something tightly at her throat, looking down as she came down the stairs. Marie was walking slowly, paced. Like she was in no hurry to go anywhere. The other kids swarmed around her in a rush. Though Logan did notice that they gave her a wide berth as they parted on both sides of her. What had happened? Where did the girl with the sparkling eyes go? Why was she so disinterested in her surroundings?
That's when she chose to look up from her musings and towards him in the foyer of the school. She looked at him blankly at first before realization dawned in her eyes. He saw her hand clench tighter at her throat. She then brought her gloved hand down no longer feeling the need to grip whatever it was. That's when Logan saw the tags. He had no idea she might still be wearing them.
There it was. Her eyes. They danced, even if only for a moment before the glow receded. She no longer looked aloof and withdrawn, but there was a quiet reservation in her eyes.
She continued on down the stairs and came to stand before him, a slow smile pulling up the corners of her mouth. That's when she spoke," You're back. I was beginning to wonder if you had forgotten where to come back to." "Hey Darlin', how could I ever forget where part of my soul is?" At this he brought his hand up to her temple and ran it through her hair. She didn't flinch, like she might have with anyone else. She trusted him implicitly, as he trusted her. She continued, "I've got to go to my next class, Sugah, but I'd like to see you later if possible."
"Sure thing. I've got to stop in Xavier's office for a little bit, but I'll come looking for you later."
"'K, bye then."
"Bye, Kiddo.'"
Logan walked over to the professor's office. Before he could knock Xavier spoke, "Please, come in Logan. I'm glad to see you've returned to us. I must admit we were beginning to wonder about you. It's been a long five years." Logan thought to himself five years! Could it really have been that long?
Logan suddenly remembered how forlorn Marie had looked on the stairway. "What the hell's been going on here for all of those years? When I left Marie was happy, and starting to hit it off with some of the other kids. "I come back today and she looked like she was all alone. No one came near her as she came down the stairs. Hell, no one even spoke to her. Has anyone ever touched her, hugged her, or even held her hand besides me?! I thought this place was considered a refuge for mutants, not a prison!"
"Logan, let me explain. We are a refuge for mutants, but Marie is the one who shut herself off from everyone else. Oh, it didn't happen right away. She became friends with Bobby, Remy, and some of the girls, but now that she teaches here and they've all left for college she just started to drift away from everyone. Her nightmares started getting worse about the same time." Logan felt immense shame at the professor's mention of the nightmares for he was sure they were his nightmares she was experiencing. "But why didn't you do anything? You are the strongest telepath there is. You should have done something to help her!"
"What would you have had me do Logan? You off all people should remember that I do not enter other people's minds lightly or unbidden. The few times I have asked her she shut me out. No, my friend, she must work through this on her own. Come to terms with it herself. Then, and only then, can she seriously consider being part of the Team."
The professor continued, "Logan, I want you to feel at home here. I certainly hope you've come home to stay this time around. We could really use a self-defense teacher around here as well as a new member to the team itself. Please, don't answer now, just think on it over the next couple of days and let me know. That's all. You may go look for Rogue now." At this I looked at Xavier funny. "No Logan, she hasn't gone by Marie in a long time. She prefers Rogue now, even to her students." At this Logan did a double take. "Ask her yourself, Logan when you see her."
OK, GUYS, PLEASE R&R! Should I continue? I'm on the process of writing the other chapters already.