Disclaimer: This fan fiction is not written for profit and no infringement of copyright is unintended. Unbeta-ed, so all mistakes are mine. I was watching the trailer for Logan and I thought I'd go through some of my old x-men stories; not sure if I'll finish this one. Still, I hope you enjoy it.
CHAPTER ONE: BONE
It was raining silver.
At least, Rogue thought disjointedly, that's what it looked like.
The heavens had torn open, lightning slitting and slashing the sky like a knife. Liquid beating down on her bruised face, on her bleeding feet. On her shoulders, there where they shivered underneath the blanket Jubes had hastily thrown over her as she dragged her out into the night. All around her there was chaos, mud and water and violence howling like a hurricane. The screams of the dying and the roar of battle merging together in the air like some keening, desperate fog. Marie could feel the weight of the shackles at her feet pulling at her. Could sense the dirt and muck dragging her under as she forced herself further down the hill. Jubes was yelling something over her ear-piece though she couldn't make it out above the storm's howling: Rogue wasn't sure what the chica was saying but judging by the expression on her face it wasn't anything good. With one final, massive effort she and the firecracker skittered to a messy, sodden halt a couple of steps away from the Blackbird. Knees finally giving out from under them, breaths coming in terrible, aching pants.
"Get up," Jubes hissed in her ear, her voice hoarse from shouting. She was looking over Rogue's shoulder, her eyes fixed to the perimeter they'd just broken through-
The perimeter Logan had said he'd seal.
"We gotta haul ass," she was muttering, "We gotta go back and get Wolvie-"
"Ah know," Marie yelled. "You think Ah don't know that? Ah just-"
And she tried to force herself to stand though nothing happened. Tried again and this time ended up ankle-deep in the freezing mud, her teeth chattering as the icy sludge spattered against her skin. Lensherr had had her for nearly a month and in that time he'd done all he could to break her; Logan hadn't had time to dose her with his healing before he ordered her and Jubes to hit the road as he covered their escape.
She might as well have been a sitting duck.
Seeing her failure Jubilee muttered an impressively long string of cuss words and hauled her to her feet, her smaller frame struggling under the weight as she gritted her teeth and steadied her. A string of paffs bursting into existence ahead of them to keep their path to the Blackbird clear.
"You are so buying me a drink after this, girl," Jubes muttered. "A really big one- With an umbrella-"
"You get me outta this, fire-cracker," Rogue croaked, "and Ah'll buy you a Goddamn bar."
And with a final, near-hysterical laugh she and Jubes finally made it to the Bird, Marie sending up a silent prayer of thanks as someone- she suspected Kitty- lowered the gang-plank to let them in. Jubes was screaming something that sounded a lot like, "Our girl's home, Logan," into her ear-piece, "now get the Hell outta Dodge-"
Hank was already halfway down the ramp, med-kit in one hand, torch in the other. His Kevlar-enhanced suit was buttoned up tight against the cold, his yellow eyes narrowed as he checked her and Jubes for injuries like he could see through their clothing right to the underlying muscle and bone. He tssked at their state as he took Rogue's weight from Jubes, pulling her more fully into his warmth, picking her up like she weighed nothing.
"You're safe, Rogue," he said, "It's alright, you can let go now…Erik won't hurt you anymore…"
Marie sagged, limbs drooping, ready to pass out from joy and relief and sheer, soul-crushing exhaustion… Every night she'd been in Lensherr's compound she'd dreamed of this, all they had to do now was go back and get Wolverine…
And that was when she heard it.
When she heard the screaming.
It was also- coincidentally- the moment when she realised that the liquid she was covered in was neither mud nor rain.
No. This was something else.
Hank must have realised the moment he saw her start, because his face turned as ashen as blue fur can do and despite the fact that he was holding her he tried to turn away. His eyes closing in pain as she recognised the voice that was howling in agony. As she realised that it belonged to Logan- That it had to belong to Logan- That he was screaming in unbearable pain and she had left him behind. How could she have left him behind? Time seemed to stop: For a long moment Rogue merely stared at her skin beneath the Blackbird's landing lights, her eyes unable to process what she was seeing. The patterns of red and silver and ivory as abstract and beautiful as the camouflage on a butterfly's wing. As unbelievable as a demonic visitation or the sight of so many angels dancing on the head of a pin.
But then-
Then-
With slow, horrifying inevitability her brain began to understand the sight before her. Began putting it together like puzzle pieces, making a horrific pattern all its own. Red. Silver. Ivory. Blood. Adamantium. Bone- But not hers. They were everywhere: In her hair, on her skin. In the breath that swarmed through her nostrils. On her tongue, where it had been lashed with rain. In the creases between her fingers and toes.
Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, no, she thought. Oh mah sweet Lord, please don't let this be real- This can't be real=
But it was.
Metal glinted like silver-dust within the gore which caked her; Small, shard-like flecks of white bone jagged in the fiery moonlight and digging into her skin like shrapnel from a broken heart. Marie shook her head, denying the knowledge instinctively. Bloodied hands held out before her, replaying that last sight she'd had of Logan as he tore into Magneto and snarled at Jubes to get her free. But he couldn't- Lensherr wouldn't- Nobody could do that to Logan-
She heard another scream, more feral than human, and in that moment Marie knew without a doubt that Erik Lensherr had.
Cold against her back then. Hard seat beneath her.
Kitty was hollering words she couldn't make out, Hank taking over the controls as she and Jubes darted out of the jet and back into the rain.
Lightning slashed the sky again but this time Marie didn't see it; There were more screams- more words- more nonsense- but she understood them not at all. Days or months or years might have passed and then they were in the air, a broken doll that had once been a man splayed on the seat opposite her. Head lolled to the side, skin slashed open everywhere. Bone claws hanging needlessly from his hands, obscene to Marie without their metal covering. Without their evidence of who their owner had been. Sharp hazel eyes stared unseeingly at her until Hank pressed a palm over them and stopped their useless sight. Until Storm took a blanket and covered him, the starched white sheet quickly becoming mired in blood.
Marie curled in on herself, feeling her heartbeat, feeling the breaths she took. Feeling every ache- Every tremble-
But she was hollow.
She was so hollow.
Nothing and nobody would ever touch her again if the sight before her were real- It can't, she thought, it can't be real- I won't let it be real-
There was a sudden crash of thunder and Rogue awoke with a jerk, her heart racing.
She stared at Logan's unconscious body, still laid out in his hospital bed after all these months, and just like always she felt her eyes scald with tears.
She felt as if her heart would break.