fic: Happily After? Shattered Dreams
author: Lucinda
rating: pg? pg 13?
Pairing: not really for Logan anymore, does mention Scott/Jean
Disclaimer: I do not own anybody from the X-Men, movie or comics.
distribution: please ask first.
Logan was finally back from Scotland. It had been an
interesting trip, though not exactly a fun one. He had found a group of people that
had been kidnapping people to sell into horrible fates. Now, he was finally
back. He had been hoping to see Marie again. He had missed
her terribly. He walked into the mansion, feeling glad to once more
be in a place that he could call home.
As he carried his duffel into the house, he began to notice
some of the students were giving him odd looks. Some of them were snickering.
Logan wondered what was so funny. Scott saw him enter the hall and
abruptly left. Apparently, he knew something Logan didn't, and he thought that
Logan wouldn't be happy when he found it out.
As Logan walked up the stairs, he pondered what could have
everyone acting so oddly. The whole stairwell reeked of sex, and for some
reason, feathers. He could smell Marie, she had been here recently. He
wondered what she had been up to in his absence.
After Logan had dropped his duffel in his room, he decided to
tell the Professor how things in Scotland had gone. Considering that Moira
was his friend, he might have a lot of questions.
Logan had gone to the Professor's office, and explained about
Moira's girl being kidnapped and almost sold to some rich pervert as a sex
slave. Rhane was rather shaken by the whole thing, but mostly uninjured
physically. Moira had also discovered a new virus, something
she'd had a great many concerns about. She had prepared a disk with
all the information, thinking that Charles would want more details than
Logan could relay.
Eventually, Logan had left Charles examining charts and
pictures of things far to small to see. He went up into the kitchen, deciding
to find himself something to eat. Maybe there was some roast or something
in the refrigerator. As he entered the kitchen, he noticed a plain white
bag on the table. Circling around the table, he glanced at the table to
see what had been in the bag. There was an early pregnancy detection box,
opened and empty on the table.
Maybe Scott and Jean were going to have a family?
end part 1.
Logan was still in the kitchen, finishing a beer. He had the
nagging feeling that there was something going on..something important that
he was missing. It felt like he had the pieces to a puzzle but hadn't put
them together yet, and something was telling him that this was something
important... Scotland had been wrapped up. He hadn't gotten
anymore clues to his past. Whatever the puzzle was, it was centered here, at the
mansion. He got up and walked out of the kitchen, thinking maybe he'd just
go up to his room.
Marie walked in the door, arms laden with shopping bags. There
was a rose tucked behind her ear, and she was dressed in a pretty green
dress. Her scent wafted over to Logan, a mix of Marie and roses and sex and
some other man.
The glass bottle of beer slid from Logan's hand and shattered on
the floor.
"How could you?" Logan's voice was barely above a whisper.
Marie heard it, and froze, looking at Logan like a startled deer. There
was a faint purple spot just under the edge of her collar.
"How could you do this to me? I thought you wanted a
relationship with me. You were asking me how I felt about an autumn wedding
two weeks ago, and now, here you are. You have some other man's mark on your
throat, and you smell of sex." Logan's voice was getting louder. He didn't
seem to notice that a few people had gathered in the background.
"How in the hell could you do this? Why did you fuck him,
Marie? What in the hell made you think that you could fuck some other man just
because I left the mansion for a short time? How in the hell could you act
like such a..." Logan was nearly shouting now. He stopped, eyes bright,
barely restraining his temper.
"How could I? What about that Japanese woman? The one you had
your picture taken with? What about her?" Marie was shouting back,
angry, and feeling hurt.
"Japanese woman? I don't remember any pictures with a Japanese
woman. What picture are you talking about, and why does some picture that
you think has me and some other woman in it give you the right
to fuck someone else?" Logan's voice was loud, carrying clearly.
His voice had also dropped down in scale, becoming even deeper, and with a
definite growling tone to it.
Marie took a breath to say something, her bags fallen around
her. She looked frightened, alarmed. This wasn't supposed to be happening.
"It doesn't matter. There isn't a single damn thing I want to
hear from you now. You fucked someone else while I was gone. You say it was
because of a picture that you thought had me and someone else. Bullshit.
It was because what we had wasn't enough. Fine. I may have been fucked
over by a damn batch of scientists, but I'll be damned if I let someone tear
my heart up more than once. I'm obviously not what you want anymore. Go
back to fucking whoever you found while I was gone."
Logan turned to stalk out of the room. There was a large crowd
of people staring at him, mostly students, but there was Scott, and
Jean, both looking at him with this odd expression that told him they had
known.. He growled, and they scattered. Logan left the mansion, prowling the
gardens, growling. He looked like rage incarnate.
end part 2.
Logan was growling as he prowled the gardens. Marie had betrayed
him. He had given her his heart, opened himself to her, and she had fucked
someone else the moment he was gone. But...she hadn't done it alone. HE
had fucked her of his own free will. Marie had been with someone perfectly
willing. Marie hadn't cared enough for him not to have her affair. Somewhere
near this mansion was the other man. Logan intended to find him and make
him suffer.
The relationship Logan thought he'd had with Marie was over.
She had shattered what they had, along with his trust and the dreams they
had for the future. Now, he only wanted to go somewhere and howl his pain
at the world. Wait...he thought that smell was familiar. Feathers and
cologne and a hint of Marie.... That was the bastard that she had been with.
New plan. Beat the hell out of the other man, then go wallow
in pain and miserable grief.
He spotted the other man, carrying a rose in one hand. He was
tall, with blond hair and large feathered wings on his back. Logan's
vision narrowed to a circle around the man, a red haze fading to black
surrounding the tunnel. With a deep snarl, Logan pounced at the man, claws
extended. "You bastard! You fucked herrrr...."
The screams and extreme emotions got the attention of the whole
population of the mansion. Those who had been witness to Logan's
words with Marie were positive that Logan was killing her golden boyfriend.
The telepaths and empaths in the mansion felt intense rage and a desire
to claw, mingled with intense terror and fiery pain.
Jean had to use her telekinetic abilities to fling Logan off
Warren, and Logan connected with a large oak tree with a dull crack.
Bleeding profusely, Warren was rushed to the med lab immediately. Logan was
left in a heap beneath the oak. Everyone was to terrified to go near him.
Logan's reputation as an unpredictable menace was cemented. He
had nearly killed Warren, the golden darling of the mansion.
A few people were left trying to figure out how this had
happened. One of the students recalled that before Warren had arrived, Logan had
been spending a lot of time with Marie. Maybe he was jealous?
end part 3.
Logan had awoken as night fell. Everything was stiff, as if he
had hit something solid at high speed. He was sprawled beneath an oak tree
in the garden of the mansion. He had a moment of confusion as to how he
had ended up there, before the images flashed in his mind. Marie smelling of
sex/anger/feathered man/gut him rage... He had been flung through
the air by something, and hit the tree right before everything went black.
For a moment, he puzzled over what had flung him, before deciding that it
wasn't important to know the details.
It was enough to know that someone had chosen the feathered
cheater over him. Someone other than Marie. He had been flung away...had
the feathered interloper lived or died? The fact that Logan had been
left here meant that nobody had been willing to help him, to see if he was
alright. They had all chosen the other over Logan.
He made a very careful, silent trip into the mansion, making
certain nobody saw him. He grabbed some of his clothing, and some clean
blankets from a hall closet, wanting blankets that smelled of nothing more
personal than soap. That accomplished, he went into the woods. He had found
the remains of a cabin deep in the forest. The passing of time had left
it empty, abandoned by the world around them. It would be the perfect
place to sort out his thoughts, and he would have privacy.
Besides, who could he trust at the mansion? The X-men had all
known about the relationship he and Marie had. With the exception of
Storm, they had all been in the mansion, living there the two weeks he was
gone. They hadn't done anything to stop the affair. Hell, they probably
approved, since it meant sweet little Marie was away from the nasty old
Wolverine. He growled at the thought. She wasn't that sweet. He had known that
she wasn't as innocent as people thought, with her big brown eyes and soft
hair, but he had hoped for better from her. He hadn't expected her to have an
affair as soon as he left the mansion on something the Professor had asked him
to do.
Logan spent several days testing the limits of his body. He
found plants that he knew were toxic, and had a big heaping salad, with
mushrooms. That only gave him horrible dreams about stomach spawning aliens
and talking plants. He had slashed at his arms until he saw gleaming
metal bones, only to see the wounds heal before he could even get
lightheaded.
He had concluded that he obviously couldn't commit suicide. He
would have to find another way to end the pointless misery of his life.
What had Xavier been saying abut the increasing danger that the X-Men faced?
Right, he was glad of the defense class because the world was growing ever
more dangerous to mutants, and he feared that his students might be
injured or killed. If things were that bad, then the villains and dangers on
team missions would be more dangerous.
If he couldn't kill himself, maybe some supervillain would do it
for him.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the mansion, Marie was confirmed as pregnant.
Unfortunately, she wasn't certain who the father was. It could have
been her farewell to Logan, or one of her first occasions with Warren.
Even worse, Logan had very publicly ended their relationship, and Warren
seemed to be showing an interest in Betsy now, and had almost no time for
Marie.
She sat there and watched her dreams of the future shatter and
crumble at her feet.
end part 4.
Ororo had spent as much time in New Orleans as she could
plausibly explain. She had first found a girl, perhaps fourteen years old,
with lavender skin and pink hair. Clarice had been very skittish, which
combined with her ability to teleport had made her very difficult to
approach. Finally, Ororo had managed to convince the girl to talk with her.
After offering her a bag of Hershey kisses, the girl had stayed long
enough for a talk.
Clarice had followed Storm for a bit after that, trying to
learn if the strange woman with the white hair that didn't think she was
dangerous was sincere. Eventually, she had decided that Storm was genuine in her
offer to help. She had been staying with Ororo, aparrently viewing her as a
surrogate mother. This had left Ororo feeling surprised and oddly
touched, and she had promised herself to try to live up to Clarice's trust in
her.
She had also found another mutant in New Orleans, a charming
thief that had tried to borrow her purse. They had ended up having coffee, and
Remy had flirted with Ororo the whole time, getting no more than a
faintly amused smile. She had eventually had some mercy on him and told him that
her heart was all ready in keeping of another, but she didn't think he had a
clue.
He had winced a bit at that, and offered to go with her to knock
a bit of sense into this guy. What sort of fool would ignore such a
lovely goddess among women? Ororo had suspected that he had some motives
of his own for leaving the city, but she had agreed to let him accompany
her and Clarice. His burning red on black eyes had been bit unsettling, but
he seemed nice enough.
They had left to go back to Westchester. Ororo wasn't certain
she would like the homecoming, expecting to see more of Logan spending
his time with Marie. That was the whole reason she had left, to avoid seeing
that. But, she couldn't avoid the mansion forever unless she left the X-
Men. Her personal dislike of seeing Logan and Marie together wasn't
sufficient reason for that.
As they arrived at the gates, Ororo had the sudden odd feeling
that things had changed while she was gone, things felt slightly
different, almost darker. She had the oddest feeling that she was entering a
dangerous place, like walking near a mine field.
When she entered the mansion, closely followed by Remy and
Clarice, she could see that there were many new faces. Some of them were
whispering, and she had the impression that something very dramatic had happened
in her absence. Remy and Clarice agreed to stay out in the hall and try to
meet some of the other students while she went to speak with the
Professor.
When she got back, Remy was looking thoughtful, and was the
focus of many interested glances by the female students.
"Stormy? I hear some interesting t'ings while you go talk.
Some guy named Logan seems to have gone mad and tried to kill someone named
Warren. Lot of people very upset about this, seems Warren is a pretty
popular guy. This Logan is apparently all grumpy an' growls at the students.
They thinkin' he's some sort of feral beast, dangerous, unfriendly, and
not to human. Any of this make sense to you?" Remy murmured a few of the
things he had heard to Ororo.
"Do not call me Stormy. I think Warren was one of the students
that the Professor asked to return. As for Logan... I can think of no
reason why the students would be thinking of him as a feral beast. I will have
to find some answers." Ororo was frowning now. It certainly didn't sound
like she had returned to more sweetness between Logan and Marie, but why
would Logan have tried to kill one of the Professor's former students? Perhaps
Jean would have some answers.
"Jean? I think I missed a few changes while I was away. Can
you explain what happened?" Ororo hoped Jean would have some idea what
had happened.
"Ororo! It's good to see that you came back. Was New Orleans
nice this time of year?" Jean smiled, glad to see her friend had
returned. "What did you miss...we've had some new students arrive, and some old ones
return. Logan went away for a bit, the Professor wanted him to do something
in Scotland. I guess he and Marie were having some problems. She
started seeing Warren, one of the returned students? Anyhow, when Logan came
back, he just snapped, and started yelling the most horrible things at
Marie. He accused her of cheating on him. She said something about a picture
of Logan and some Japanese woman, so I think there were definitely some
problems there. Then, Logan went out into the gardens and nearly killed
Warren. It was terrible. We didn't see Logan for about a week, then he just
came back into the mansion and started going on missions. He isn't really
talking to anyone, and nobody wants to talk to him. So, you brought back some
new people?"
Ororo was stunned. She had seen no signs of problems between
Marie and Logan, and she had been looking for them. She wanted to see this
picture for herself. And she had a few questions for Marie, as well as this
Warren.
end part 5.
She had settled Clarice and Remy into rooms, so that they
could unpack their things and try to get accustomed to living here. Clarice had
also spoken with the Professor to place her academically, and then to the
library with a list of textbooks that she would need. Both of them should
be fine for a while.
Ororo was going to find Warren and have a few words with him.
She was certain from what Jean had said that there had been something
between Warren and Marie. While the responsibility fell on both of them, she had a
suspicion that Warren had retained his carefree approach to romance,
most easily put as charm them and move on. In that case, there should be
words about commitments. There would still be words about approaching
someone in a relationship.
Warren was in the garden, sitting at the edge of a fountain,
his fingers trailing across the water, breaking up the sparkling
reflections of sunlight. He had a fading bruise over his eye, and his lip had been
split. There were faint lines under his shirt betraying the presence of
bandages on his shoulder and abdomen. His wings had a few places that the
feathers had been sliced, and looked a bit bedraggled.
"Warren? I was wondering exactly what went on between
yourself and Marie." Ororo decided to start politely, in the interest of good
manners.
"Why? She's not a child, Ororo. Marie is a passionate young
woman who is quite capable of making up her own mind as to what she wants do
do. Or has your own life been so lonely that you need a bit of guidance in
that area?" His smirk was quite infuriating, as was his tone, implying
that he had done nothing wrong.
Ororo frowned. It seemed that Warren was going to be
difficult. "I was wondering because the last that I knew, she was happily involved
with Logan. Considering the way you went chasing women the last time you
were here, I was curious exactly when you started chasing women that all
ready had a man in their lives. That had been one of your few dating
scruples." Overhead, clouds had started to move in, obscuring the sunshine.
Warren flinched back from her glare. "She didn't seem to have
anyone when I showed up. Marie never once said she didn't want to go out
with me because she had a boyfriend. I didn't force her to do anything. As
for her being involved, the only thing I can offer about that is she
mentioned something about a guy in her life, but she was fairly certain he'd
cheated on her. I had the impression that she was available, I acted on it."
Ororo looked at him, considering his words. "If what you say
is true, then I shall have to had a few words with Marie. Might I suggest in
the future you ask with more than the woman you are smiling at to see if
there is someone in her life?"
With that, she turned and left the garden. Marie had to be
around here somewhere. While she had been determined not to interfere with
Logan's happiness, it was amazingly clear that Logan wasn't happy now.
Warren had mentioned Marie thinking Logan had cheated. Ororo wanted to find
out exactly where this idea had come from.
Meanwhile, Clarice was flipping through her new history
book. The index had shown chapters on numerous Eastern nations, including
Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and some others that she wanted to look into.
In the section on Japan, there was a picture of one of the strongest
political influences from the turn of the 19th century, a Lady Mariko Yoshida.
Standing beside her was a man that certainly didn't look Japanese.
Hadn't Ororo mentioned that she taught history here? Perhaps
she could ask her more about this Lady Mariko and how she had ended up with a
western consort. Pity the both of them had to be dead by now, the picture
had been taken over a century ago. It would be interesting to know how they
felt about current political trends.
end part 6.
Ororo was not happy. She finally found Marie sitting in the
den, her dark hair pulled back, and sipping a cup of something hot.
Wisps of fragrant steam rose from the cup. Marie was holding a dried rose in
her hand, twisting it around to look at it from many angles.
"Marie. I have been looking for you." Ororo's voice was cold,
and entirely unexpected.
"Storm. I thought you went off lookin' for a mutant in New
Orleans. I didn't know you were back." Marie was a bit confused, why was Storm
so upset?
"What is this I hear of Logan nearly killing your boyfriend
Warren? Were you not involved with Logan when I left?" Storm's voice was
quiet, but not friendly or comforting.
"I...there was a picture of him and some Japanese woman. If
he isn't going to be there for me, why should I still be his? Then Warren
was there, and he was so sweet an' charming. Besides, it isn't any of your
business who I'm involved with." Marie sounded hesitant and defensive.
Storm was furious, and the thunder that was now rumbling
outside emphasized this. "Marie, I am well aware that your mutation has
prevented you from experiencing a normal life in the past, but surely even
that could not have kept you from learning that it is considered proper form to
make certain you are no longer in a relationship before entering another
one? To be certain the man who thinks you love him is aware that you no
longer wish to be with him before you take another as your lover?" Her eyes
were flashing, the charge of electricity gathering in the area making her
hair rise up like a cloud around her.
"If he can't be bothered to tell me about some other woman in
his life..." Marie began to shout at Storm, trying to defend her
actions.
There was a wind picking up outside, and a breeze filled the
den. People that had been busy outside rapidly went into the mansion,
concerned by the dark clouds overhead, flashes of blue-white lightning
highlighting the purple black clouds irregularly. The air had been still
earlier, but there was now a strong wind. Some of the clouds had begun to sink
lower in the sky, turning slowly in a direction not quite matching the wind.
Slowly, a funnel of clouds was taking shape.
Hank McCoy had been in his lab, trying to determine the possible
affects of Marie's mutation on her unborn child. He was a bit
concerned about what had been going on with her relationships, but he was
hardly the person to advise her on the subject. He had come upstairs for a cup
of coffee, and heard Marie shouting in the den. This might be a
problem. What did she mean about another woman in his life? Which he did Marie
refer to, Logan or Warren?
He bounded towards the study, only to see small clouds over
head, under the ceiling. Miniature lightning crackled among them,
mirroring the weather outside. This was a new development in Ororo's abilities,
she had never manifested miniature weather patterns indoors.... Marie was
suspended in the air, held by a twisting spiral of wind.
"Ororo! Please do not electrocute Marie!" He had suddenly
divined her intention, and he had to protest.
"Can you give me a reason why she should not suffer for her
appalling behavior?" Ororo's voice was as cold as a December wind. Her eyes
blazed like lightning, furious and powerful.
"Ahh... Let me put it this way. I do not think you should
electrocute her for the sake of her unborn child." He was alarmed, and had a
moment's clear understanding of how the woman before him could have been
taken for a goddess by her village.
"Child? You mean to tell me that Marie is pregnant?" Ororo's
voice was full of surprise. Marie fell to the floor with a thud. "Whose
child is it?"
Hank McCoy took a moment to adjust his glasses. He really wanted
to gather his thoughts..better yet to leave the room. As it was, he had
no excuse not to share his meager amounts of information with the
furious woman before him.
"I do not know whose child the infant is, beyond that Marie is
obviously the mother. I was attempting to determine possible
effects of Marie's mutation as regards to her pregnancy. I believe that there
should be no risk to the fetus during gestation from Marie's abilities, as
they seem to be dependent on skin to skin contact. There is a possibility
that her child would be resistant or immune to her power. I did not find
anything to indicate any expected abnormalities for the pregnancy."
His words out, he fled to the kitchen, intending to take a
coffee maker and a supply of coffee right down to the labs. Every time he
came upstairs lately he had heard unsettling news about the relationships
around this place. He might just be safer to shut himself away in the lab
and not come out. Besides, the weather was terrible outside.
end part 7.
A truly terrifying storm raged over Westchester that night.
Ororo sat in her room, under the skylight. Her face was towards the storm,
but her eyes were not focused outwards. Instead, she was busy thinking,
about what had happened here, and what could be done.
Marie had had Logan, and thrown her relationship with him away
for an affair with Warren. Obviously, the girl was a fool, even if, as
Warren had put it, she was of legal age, she was still a foolish girl. How
anyone could casually discard he commitment of such a man...
From what she had been able to gather, the Professor had sent
Logan to Scotland to offer help to one of his colleagues. There had been
something about the other doctor's ward.... what had happened over there
wasn't clearly known. While Logan was away, Marie had fallen for the
flirtation and charm of Warren, and they had been intimate. Then, Logan had
come home, somehow known they had been together, yelled at Marie in front of a
great many witnesses, and gone into the gardens where he nearly killed
Warren.
Somehow, Logan had been painted as the villain in the whole
matter. Marie's mention of a picture had somehow been interpreted as Logan
having cheated on Marie. Ororo wanted to know just where this alleged
picture had been, so she could see it for herself. Logan did have quite the
temper, and it was easy enough to see how his near disembowelment of Warren had
made people afraid.
She was having difficulty understanding the things that had
followed though. Jean had used her telekinetics to pull Logan away from
Warren, which she could understand. But then Jean had flung Logan into a
tree, hard enough that he was left unconscious. Nobody had checked to see
if he was okay. From what she could gather, he had simply been left
there. After that, he had completely vanished for several days, during which
nobody bothered to look for him. He had returned to the mansion, and had
been going on the missions, and attacking the opponents with a direct
method that was notably different than he had used before.
She was certain that he was bleeding inside. Not physically,
his healing factor would have dealt with that. No, Logan was suffering
emotionally. Marie's affair had ripped his heart out, and he was
left with a gaping wound to his spirit that nobody had tried to help. He
wasn't going on these missions to help the team, judging from what she had
heard. Logan was hoping to be killed, that some villain would end his pain for
him.
Where was Logan at now? Was he in his room in the mansion, alone and in
pain? Had he gone somewhere to try to numb his sorrows in drink? Had he
simply vanished for another few days? Perhaps she should check his
room, carefully, lest he be suffering another nightmare.
Pulling a robe on, she carefully walked to the hallway that had
Logan's room, and listened at his door. There was only silence inside.
Carefully, she opened the door, allowing her to see the room. The bed was
neatly made, and empty. The closet door was shut, and there were no items of
clothing tossed on the floor. Wherever Logan was in this storm, it wasn't
his room in side the mansion.
In her room, Marie was awake, unable to sleep with all the
thunder. She knew that Ororo was furious with her, had been moments away from
electrocuting her with a lighting bolt. Why was Ororo so incredibly
upset by everything? It wasn't as if Warren were Ororo's boyfriend, and
Logan surely wasn't. Ororo didn't date. Marie wanted to figure out what
had set Ororo off, so she wouldn't get electrocuted in the future.
Thank God for Dr McCoy.
Actually, that new guy Remy was rather cute. Maybe she could
say hi, offer to show him around the place? She was quite available now,
she wouldn't be cheating on anyone. Besides, what harm was there in
saying hi?
end part 8.
Ororo hadn't slept well. There had been to many thoughts,
about Logan, and how to help him heal from Marie's betrayal. She also had
worried a bit about how Remy and Clarice would settle here at the mansion.
However, the Professor had summoned her as well as Scott,
Jean and Logan to be briefed on a mission.
There were some newly manifested mutants being held captive,
and he wanted them to go rescue these mutants. Scott had asked about the
location, and if the Professor knew anything about what they should expect
when they arrived at the scene. Jean had mentioned that she felt it might be
wise to take a medical kit with them, in case any of the mutants were
injured.
Logan merely stood there and listened. He was wearing his
uniform, his hair longer and wilder than when she had seen him last. He looked
healthy enough, standing uninjured and calm seeming through all of this.
The difference in him was only noticeable when you looked right into his
eyes. They were unreadable, like chips of winter sky set into his face.
They showed no emotion, no concern.
* * *
They had gone to rescue the mutants, finding them in the clutches
of a group of mutants that wanted to create havoc and terror. The leader
of them had the ability to generate and throw flames, which he used against
the X-Men. Jean had been in a mental battle with another of there
members, an androgynous blond telepath. Logan gestured for Scott and Ororo to
get the prisoners, most of whom looked about fourteen. To prevent the
leader from noticing their actions, Logan had opted to be the distraction. He
had charged at the man, his claws bared, growling.
They had managed to get the frightened kids onto the plane, and
Jean had somehow rendered the other psychic unconscious. Jean was now
tending to the bruises and cuts that a few of them had suffered. Everyone
accounted for except Logan. Ororo looked to see how he was, and flinched at what
she saw.
The fire thrower was down, a small pool of blood around him.
Another mutants, a woman with green hair, had been flung into a stack of
crates, and wasn't moving. The scent of burned meat hung heavy in the air, and
the source of it was Logan. His hair was gone, leaving his scalp
blistered and exposed. Painful looking burns were over his arms, his chest, on
his legs. The uniform hung in tatters, ash flaking from the edges in some
places. He looked like the monster out of a horror film, and his eyes still
showed nothing.
Logan boarded the plane, and was silent the entire trip back to
the mansion. Ororo kept glancing at him. He was healing, the blisters
subsiding, and new skin growing over the burns as they flew back to
Westchester. Despite the fact that he must be in terrible pain, he
hadn't said a word, merely dropped into the seat and buckled his seat belt.
She had to find a way to help him. The only question, how to
convince him to let her help him when he had cut himself of from letting
anything make him feel? The task ahead would not be easy.
end Shattered Dreams.
author: Lucinda
rating: pg? pg 13?
Pairing: not really for Logan anymore, does mention Scott/Jean
Disclaimer: I do not own anybody from the X-Men, movie or comics.
distribution: please ask first.
Logan was finally back from Scotland. It had been an
interesting trip, though not exactly a fun one. He had found a group of people that
had been kidnapping people to sell into horrible fates. Now, he was finally
back. He had been hoping to see Marie again. He had missed
her terribly. He walked into the mansion, feeling glad to once more
be in a place that he could call home.
As he carried his duffel into the house, he began to notice
some of the students were giving him odd looks. Some of them were snickering.
Logan wondered what was so funny. Scott saw him enter the hall and
abruptly left. Apparently, he knew something Logan didn't, and he thought that
Logan wouldn't be happy when he found it out.
As Logan walked up the stairs, he pondered what could have
everyone acting so oddly. The whole stairwell reeked of sex, and for some
reason, feathers. He could smell Marie, she had been here recently. He
wondered what she had been up to in his absence.
After Logan had dropped his duffel in his room, he decided to
tell the Professor how things in Scotland had gone. Considering that Moira
was his friend, he might have a lot of questions.
Logan had gone to the Professor's office, and explained about
Moira's girl being kidnapped and almost sold to some rich pervert as a sex
slave. Rhane was rather shaken by the whole thing, but mostly uninjured
physically. Moira had also discovered a new virus, something
she'd had a great many concerns about. She had prepared a disk with
all the information, thinking that Charles would want more details than
Logan could relay.
Eventually, Logan had left Charles examining charts and
pictures of things far to small to see. He went up into the kitchen, deciding
to find himself something to eat. Maybe there was some roast or something
in the refrigerator. As he entered the kitchen, he noticed a plain white
bag on the table. Circling around the table, he glanced at the table to
see what had been in the bag. There was an early pregnancy detection box,
opened and empty on the table.
Maybe Scott and Jean were going to have a family?
end part 1.
Logan was still in the kitchen, finishing a beer. He had the
nagging feeling that there was something going on..something important that
he was missing. It felt like he had the pieces to a puzzle but hadn't put
them together yet, and something was telling him that this was something
important... Scotland had been wrapped up. He hadn't gotten
anymore clues to his past. Whatever the puzzle was, it was centered here, at the
mansion. He got up and walked out of the kitchen, thinking maybe he'd just
go up to his room.
Marie walked in the door, arms laden with shopping bags. There
was a rose tucked behind her ear, and she was dressed in a pretty green
dress. Her scent wafted over to Logan, a mix of Marie and roses and sex and
some other man.
The glass bottle of beer slid from Logan's hand and shattered on
the floor.
"How could you?" Logan's voice was barely above a whisper.
Marie heard it, and froze, looking at Logan like a startled deer. There
was a faint purple spot just under the edge of her collar.
"How could you do this to me? I thought you wanted a
relationship with me. You were asking me how I felt about an autumn wedding
two weeks ago, and now, here you are. You have some other man's mark on your
throat, and you smell of sex." Logan's voice was getting louder. He didn't
seem to notice that a few people had gathered in the background.
"How in the hell could you do this? Why did you fuck him,
Marie? What in the hell made you think that you could fuck some other man just
because I left the mansion for a short time? How in the hell could you act
like such a..." Logan was nearly shouting now. He stopped, eyes bright,
barely restraining his temper.
"How could I? What about that Japanese woman? The one you had
your picture taken with? What about her?" Marie was shouting back,
angry, and feeling hurt.
"Japanese woman? I don't remember any pictures with a Japanese
woman. What picture are you talking about, and why does some picture that
you think has me and some other woman in it give you the right
to fuck someone else?" Logan's voice was loud, carrying clearly.
His voice had also dropped down in scale, becoming even deeper, and with a
definite growling tone to it.
Marie took a breath to say something, her bags fallen around
her. She looked frightened, alarmed. This wasn't supposed to be happening.
"It doesn't matter. There isn't a single damn thing I want to
hear from you now. You fucked someone else while I was gone. You say it was
because of a picture that you thought had me and someone else. Bullshit.
It was because what we had wasn't enough. Fine. I may have been fucked
over by a damn batch of scientists, but I'll be damned if I let someone tear
my heart up more than once. I'm obviously not what you want anymore. Go
back to fucking whoever you found while I was gone."
Logan turned to stalk out of the room. There was a large crowd
of people staring at him, mostly students, but there was Scott, and
Jean, both looking at him with this odd expression that told him they had
known.. He growled, and they scattered. Logan left the mansion, prowling the
gardens, growling. He looked like rage incarnate.
end part 2.
Logan was growling as he prowled the gardens. Marie had betrayed
him. He had given her his heart, opened himself to her, and she had fucked
someone else the moment he was gone. But...she hadn't done it alone. HE
had fucked her of his own free will. Marie had been with someone perfectly
willing. Marie hadn't cared enough for him not to have her affair. Somewhere
near this mansion was the other man. Logan intended to find him and make
him suffer.
The relationship Logan thought he'd had with Marie was over.
She had shattered what they had, along with his trust and the dreams they
had for the future. Now, he only wanted to go somewhere and howl his pain
at the world. Wait...he thought that smell was familiar. Feathers and
cologne and a hint of Marie.... That was the bastard that she had been with.
New plan. Beat the hell out of the other man, then go wallow
in pain and miserable grief.
He spotted the other man, carrying a rose in one hand. He was
tall, with blond hair and large feathered wings on his back. Logan's
vision narrowed to a circle around the man, a red haze fading to black
surrounding the tunnel. With a deep snarl, Logan pounced at the man, claws
extended. "You bastard! You fucked herrrr...."
The screams and extreme emotions got the attention of the whole
population of the mansion. Those who had been witness to Logan's
words with Marie were positive that Logan was killing her golden boyfriend.
The telepaths and empaths in the mansion felt intense rage and a desire
to claw, mingled with intense terror and fiery pain.
Jean had to use her telekinetic abilities to fling Logan off
Warren, and Logan connected with a large oak tree with a dull crack.
Bleeding profusely, Warren was rushed to the med lab immediately. Logan was
left in a heap beneath the oak. Everyone was to terrified to go near him.
Logan's reputation as an unpredictable menace was cemented. He
had nearly killed Warren, the golden darling of the mansion.
A few people were left trying to figure out how this had
happened. One of the students recalled that before Warren had arrived, Logan had
been spending a lot of time with Marie. Maybe he was jealous?
end part 3.
Logan had awoken as night fell. Everything was stiff, as if he
had hit something solid at high speed. He was sprawled beneath an oak tree
in the garden of the mansion. He had a moment of confusion as to how he
had ended up there, before the images flashed in his mind. Marie smelling of
sex/anger/feathered man/gut him rage... He had been flung through
the air by something, and hit the tree right before everything went black.
For a moment, he puzzled over what had flung him, before deciding that it
wasn't important to know the details.
It was enough to know that someone had chosen the feathered
cheater over him. Someone other than Marie. He had been flung away...had
the feathered interloper lived or died? The fact that Logan had been
left here meant that nobody had been willing to help him, to see if he was
alright. They had all chosen the other over Logan.
He made a very careful, silent trip into the mansion, making
certain nobody saw him. He grabbed some of his clothing, and some clean
blankets from a hall closet, wanting blankets that smelled of nothing more
personal than soap. That accomplished, he went into the woods. He had found
the remains of a cabin deep in the forest. The passing of time had left
it empty, abandoned by the world around them. It would be the perfect
place to sort out his thoughts, and he would have privacy.
Besides, who could he trust at the mansion? The X-men had all
known about the relationship he and Marie had. With the exception of
Storm, they had all been in the mansion, living there the two weeks he was
gone. They hadn't done anything to stop the affair. Hell, they probably
approved, since it meant sweet little Marie was away from the nasty old
Wolverine. He growled at the thought. She wasn't that sweet. He had known that
she wasn't as innocent as people thought, with her big brown eyes and soft
hair, but he had hoped for better from her. He hadn't expected her to have an
affair as soon as he left the mansion on something the Professor had asked him
to do.
Logan spent several days testing the limits of his body. He
found plants that he knew were toxic, and had a big heaping salad, with
mushrooms. That only gave him horrible dreams about stomach spawning aliens
and talking plants. He had slashed at his arms until he saw gleaming
metal bones, only to see the wounds heal before he could even get
lightheaded.
He had concluded that he obviously couldn't commit suicide. He
would have to find another way to end the pointless misery of his life.
What had Xavier been saying abut the increasing danger that the X-Men faced?
Right, he was glad of the defense class because the world was growing ever
more dangerous to mutants, and he feared that his students might be
injured or killed. If things were that bad, then the villains and dangers on
team missions would be more dangerous.
If he couldn't kill himself, maybe some supervillain would do it
for him.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the mansion, Marie was confirmed as pregnant.
Unfortunately, she wasn't certain who the father was. It could have
been her farewell to Logan, or one of her first occasions with Warren.
Even worse, Logan had very publicly ended their relationship, and Warren
seemed to be showing an interest in Betsy now, and had almost no time for
Marie.
She sat there and watched her dreams of the future shatter and
crumble at her feet.
end part 4.
Ororo had spent as much time in New Orleans as she could
plausibly explain. She had first found a girl, perhaps fourteen years old,
with lavender skin and pink hair. Clarice had been very skittish, which
combined with her ability to teleport had made her very difficult to
approach. Finally, Ororo had managed to convince the girl to talk with her.
After offering her a bag of Hershey kisses, the girl had stayed long
enough for a talk.
Clarice had followed Storm for a bit after that, trying to
learn if the strange woman with the white hair that didn't think she was
dangerous was sincere. Eventually, she had decided that Storm was genuine in her
offer to help. She had been staying with Ororo, aparrently viewing her as a
surrogate mother. This had left Ororo feeling surprised and oddly
touched, and she had promised herself to try to live up to Clarice's trust in
her.
She had also found another mutant in New Orleans, a charming
thief that had tried to borrow her purse. They had ended up having coffee, and
Remy had flirted with Ororo the whole time, getting no more than a
faintly amused smile. She had eventually had some mercy on him and told him that
her heart was all ready in keeping of another, but she didn't think he had a
clue.
He had winced a bit at that, and offered to go with her to knock
a bit of sense into this guy. What sort of fool would ignore such a
lovely goddess among women? Ororo had suspected that he had some motives
of his own for leaving the city, but she had agreed to let him accompany
her and Clarice. His burning red on black eyes had been bit unsettling, but
he seemed nice enough.
They had left to go back to Westchester. Ororo wasn't certain
she would like the homecoming, expecting to see more of Logan spending
his time with Marie. That was the whole reason she had left, to avoid seeing
that. But, she couldn't avoid the mansion forever unless she left the X-
Men. Her personal dislike of seeing Logan and Marie together wasn't
sufficient reason for that.
As they arrived at the gates, Ororo had the sudden odd feeling
that things had changed while she was gone, things felt slightly
different, almost darker. She had the oddest feeling that she was entering a
dangerous place, like walking near a mine field.
When she entered the mansion, closely followed by Remy and
Clarice, she could see that there were many new faces. Some of them were
whispering, and she had the impression that something very dramatic had happened
in her absence. Remy and Clarice agreed to stay out in the hall and try to
meet some of the other students while she went to speak with the
Professor.
When she got back, Remy was looking thoughtful, and was the
focus of many interested glances by the female students.
"Stormy? I hear some interesting t'ings while you go talk.
Some guy named Logan seems to have gone mad and tried to kill someone named
Warren. Lot of people very upset about this, seems Warren is a pretty
popular guy. This Logan is apparently all grumpy an' growls at the students.
They thinkin' he's some sort of feral beast, dangerous, unfriendly, and
not to human. Any of this make sense to you?" Remy murmured a few of the
things he had heard to Ororo.
"Do not call me Stormy. I think Warren was one of the students
that the Professor asked to return. As for Logan... I can think of no
reason why the students would be thinking of him as a feral beast. I will have
to find some answers." Ororo was frowning now. It certainly didn't sound
like she had returned to more sweetness between Logan and Marie, but why
would Logan have tried to kill one of the Professor's former students? Perhaps
Jean would have some answers.
"Jean? I think I missed a few changes while I was away. Can
you explain what happened?" Ororo hoped Jean would have some idea what
had happened.
"Ororo! It's good to see that you came back. Was New Orleans
nice this time of year?" Jean smiled, glad to see her friend had
returned. "What did you miss...we've had some new students arrive, and some old ones
return. Logan went away for a bit, the Professor wanted him to do something
in Scotland. I guess he and Marie were having some problems. She
started seeing Warren, one of the returned students? Anyhow, when Logan came
back, he just snapped, and started yelling the most horrible things at
Marie. He accused her of cheating on him. She said something about a picture
of Logan and some Japanese woman, so I think there were definitely some
problems there. Then, Logan went out into the gardens and nearly killed
Warren. It was terrible. We didn't see Logan for about a week, then he just
came back into the mansion and started going on missions. He isn't really
talking to anyone, and nobody wants to talk to him. So, you brought back some
new people?"
Ororo was stunned. She had seen no signs of problems between
Marie and Logan, and she had been looking for them. She wanted to see this
picture for herself. And she had a few questions for Marie, as well as this
Warren.
end part 5.
She had settled Clarice and Remy into rooms, so that they
could unpack their things and try to get accustomed to living here. Clarice had
also spoken with the Professor to place her academically, and then to the
library with a list of textbooks that she would need. Both of them should
be fine for a while.
Ororo was going to find Warren and have a few words with him.
She was certain from what Jean had said that there had been something
between Warren and Marie. While the responsibility fell on both of them, she had a
suspicion that Warren had retained his carefree approach to romance,
most easily put as charm them and move on. In that case, there should be
words about commitments. There would still be words about approaching
someone in a relationship.
Warren was in the garden, sitting at the edge of a fountain,
his fingers trailing across the water, breaking up the sparkling
reflections of sunlight. He had a fading bruise over his eye, and his lip had been
split. There were faint lines under his shirt betraying the presence of
bandages on his shoulder and abdomen. His wings had a few places that the
feathers had been sliced, and looked a bit bedraggled.
"Warren? I was wondering exactly what went on between
yourself and Marie." Ororo decided to start politely, in the interest of good
manners.
"Why? She's not a child, Ororo. Marie is a passionate young
woman who is quite capable of making up her own mind as to what she wants do
do. Or has your own life been so lonely that you need a bit of guidance in
that area?" His smirk was quite infuriating, as was his tone, implying
that he had done nothing wrong.
Ororo frowned. It seemed that Warren was going to be
difficult. "I was wondering because the last that I knew, she was happily involved
with Logan. Considering the way you went chasing women the last time you
were here, I was curious exactly when you started chasing women that all
ready had a man in their lives. That had been one of your few dating
scruples." Overhead, clouds had started to move in, obscuring the sunshine.
Warren flinched back from her glare. "She didn't seem to have
anyone when I showed up. Marie never once said she didn't want to go out
with me because she had a boyfriend. I didn't force her to do anything. As
for her being involved, the only thing I can offer about that is she
mentioned something about a guy in her life, but she was fairly certain he'd
cheated on her. I had the impression that she was available, I acted on it."
Ororo looked at him, considering his words. "If what you say
is true, then I shall have to had a few words with Marie. Might I suggest in
the future you ask with more than the woman you are smiling at to see if
there is someone in her life?"
With that, she turned and left the garden. Marie had to be
around here somewhere. While she had been determined not to interfere with
Logan's happiness, it was amazingly clear that Logan wasn't happy now.
Warren had mentioned Marie thinking Logan had cheated. Ororo wanted to find
out exactly where this idea had come from.
Meanwhile, Clarice was flipping through her new history
book. The index had shown chapters on numerous Eastern nations, including
Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and some others that she wanted to look into.
In the section on Japan, there was a picture of one of the strongest
political influences from the turn of the 19th century, a Lady Mariko Yoshida.
Standing beside her was a man that certainly didn't look Japanese.
Hadn't Ororo mentioned that she taught history here? Perhaps
she could ask her more about this Lady Mariko and how she had ended up with a
western consort. Pity the both of them had to be dead by now, the picture
had been taken over a century ago. It would be interesting to know how they
felt about current political trends.
end part 6.
Ororo was not happy. She finally found Marie sitting in the
den, her dark hair pulled back, and sipping a cup of something hot.
Wisps of fragrant steam rose from the cup. Marie was holding a dried rose in
her hand, twisting it around to look at it from many angles.
"Marie. I have been looking for you." Ororo's voice was cold,
and entirely unexpected.
"Storm. I thought you went off lookin' for a mutant in New
Orleans. I didn't know you were back." Marie was a bit confused, why was Storm
so upset?
"What is this I hear of Logan nearly killing your boyfriend
Warren? Were you not involved with Logan when I left?" Storm's voice was
quiet, but not friendly or comforting.
"I...there was a picture of him and some Japanese woman. If
he isn't going to be there for me, why should I still be his? Then Warren
was there, and he was so sweet an' charming. Besides, it isn't any of your
business who I'm involved with." Marie sounded hesitant and defensive.
Storm was furious, and the thunder that was now rumbling
outside emphasized this. "Marie, I am well aware that your mutation has
prevented you from experiencing a normal life in the past, but surely even
that could not have kept you from learning that it is considered proper form to
make certain you are no longer in a relationship before entering another
one? To be certain the man who thinks you love him is aware that you no
longer wish to be with him before you take another as your lover?" Her eyes
were flashing, the charge of electricity gathering in the area making her
hair rise up like a cloud around her.
"If he can't be bothered to tell me about some other woman in
his life..." Marie began to shout at Storm, trying to defend her
actions.
There was a wind picking up outside, and a breeze filled the
den. People that had been busy outside rapidly went into the mansion,
concerned by the dark clouds overhead, flashes of blue-white lightning
highlighting the purple black clouds irregularly. The air had been still
earlier, but there was now a strong wind. Some of the clouds had begun to sink
lower in the sky, turning slowly in a direction not quite matching the wind.
Slowly, a funnel of clouds was taking shape.
Hank McCoy had been in his lab, trying to determine the possible
affects of Marie's mutation on her unborn child. He was a bit
concerned about what had been going on with her relationships, but he was
hardly the person to advise her on the subject. He had come upstairs for a cup
of coffee, and heard Marie shouting in the den. This might be a
problem. What did she mean about another woman in his life? Which he did Marie
refer to, Logan or Warren?
He bounded towards the study, only to see small clouds over
head, under the ceiling. Miniature lightning crackled among them,
mirroring the weather outside. This was a new development in Ororo's abilities,
she had never manifested miniature weather patterns indoors.... Marie was
suspended in the air, held by a twisting spiral of wind.
"Ororo! Please do not electrocute Marie!" He had suddenly
divined her intention, and he had to protest.
"Can you give me a reason why she should not suffer for her
appalling behavior?" Ororo's voice was as cold as a December wind. Her eyes
blazed like lightning, furious and powerful.
"Ahh... Let me put it this way. I do not think you should
electrocute her for the sake of her unborn child." He was alarmed, and had a
moment's clear understanding of how the woman before him could have been
taken for a goddess by her village.
"Child? You mean to tell me that Marie is pregnant?" Ororo's
voice was full of surprise. Marie fell to the floor with a thud. "Whose
child is it?"
Hank McCoy took a moment to adjust his glasses. He really wanted
to gather his thoughts..better yet to leave the room. As it was, he had
no excuse not to share his meager amounts of information with the
furious woman before him.
"I do not know whose child the infant is, beyond that Marie is
obviously the mother. I was attempting to determine possible
effects of Marie's mutation as regards to her pregnancy. I believe that there
should be no risk to the fetus during gestation from Marie's abilities, as
they seem to be dependent on skin to skin contact. There is a possibility
that her child would be resistant or immune to her power. I did not find
anything to indicate any expected abnormalities for the pregnancy."
His words out, he fled to the kitchen, intending to take a
coffee maker and a supply of coffee right down to the labs. Every time he
came upstairs lately he had heard unsettling news about the relationships
around this place. He might just be safer to shut himself away in the lab
and not come out. Besides, the weather was terrible outside.
end part 7.
A truly terrifying storm raged over Westchester that night.
Ororo sat in her room, under the skylight. Her face was towards the storm,
but her eyes were not focused outwards. Instead, she was busy thinking,
about what had happened here, and what could be done.
Marie had had Logan, and thrown her relationship with him away
for an affair with Warren. Obviously, the girl was a fool, even if, as
Warren had put it, she was of legal age, she was still a foolish girl. How
anyone could casually discard he commitment of such a man...
From what she had been able to gather, the Professor had sent
Logan to Scotland to offer help to one of his colleagues. There had been
something about the other doctor's ward.... what had happened over there
wasn't clearly known. While Logan was away, Marie had fallen for the
flirtation and charm of Warren, and they had been intimate. Then, Logan had
come home, somehow known they had been together, yelled at Marie in front of a
great many witnesses, and gone into the gardens where he nearly killed
Warren.
Somehow, Logan had been painted as the villain in the whole
matter. Marie's mention of a picture had somehow been interpreted as Logan
having cheated on Marie. Ororo wanted to know just where this alleged
picture had been, so she could see it for herself. Logan did have quite the
temper, and it was easy enough to see how his near disembowelment of Warren had
made people afraid.
She was having difficulty understanding the things that had
followed though. Jean had used her telekinetics to pull Logan away from
Warren, which she could understand. But then Jean had flung Logan into a
tree, hard enough that he was left unconscious. Nobody had checked to see
if he was okay. From what she could gather, he had simply been left
there. After that, he had completely vanished for several days, during which
nobody bothered to look for him. He had returned to the mansion, and had
been going on the missions, and attacking the opponents with a direct
method that was notably different than he had used before.
She was certain that he was bleeding inside. Not physically,
his healing factor would have dealt with that. No, Logan was suffering
emotionally. Marie's affair had ripped his heart out, and he was
left with a gaping wound to his spirit that nobody had tried to help. He
wasn't going on these missions to help the team, judging from what she had
heard. Logan was hoping to be killed, that some villain would end his pain for
him.
Where was Logan at now? Was he in his room in the mansion, alone and in
pain? Had he gone somewhere to try to numb his sorrows in drink? Had he
simply vanished for another few days? Perhaps she should check his
room, carefully, lest he be suffering another nightmare.
Pulling a robe on, she carefully walked to the hallway that had
Logan's room, and listened at his door. There was only silence inside.
Carefully, she opened the door, allowing her to see the room. The bed was
neatly made, and empty. The closet door was shut, and there were no items of
clothing tossed on the floor. Wherever Logan was in this storm, it wasn't
his room in side the mansion.
In her room, Marie was awake, unable to sleep with all the
thunder. She knew that Ororo was furious with her, had been moments away from
electrocuting her with a lighting bolt. Why was Ororo so incredibly
upset by everything? It wasn't as if Warren were Ororo's boyfriend, and
Logan surely wasn't. Ororo didn't date. Marie wanted to figure out what
had set Ororo off, so she wouldn't get electrocuted in the future.
Thank God for Dr McCoy.
Actually, that new guy Remy was rather cute. Maybe she could
say hi, offer to show him around the place? She was quite available now,
she wouldn't be cheating on anyone. Besides, what harm was there in
saying hi?
end part 8.
Ororo hadn't slept well. There had been to many thoughts,
about Logan, and how to help him heal from Marie's betrayal. She also had
worried a bit about how Remy and Clarice would settle here at the mansion.
However, the Professor had summoned her as well as Scott,
Jean and Logan to be briefed on a mission.
There were some newly manifested mutants being held captive,
and he wanted them to go rescue these mutants. Scott had asked about the
location, and if the Professor knew anything about what they should expect
when they arrived at the scene. Jean had mentioned that she felt it might be
wise to take a medical kit with them, in case any of the mutants were
injured.
Logan merely stood there and listened. He was wearing his
uniform, his hair longer and wilder than when she had seen him last. He looked
healthy enough, standing uninjured and calm seeming through all of this.
The difference in him was only noticeable when you looked right into his
eyes. They were unreadable, like chips of winter sky set into his face.
They showed no emotion, no concern.
* * *
They had gone to rescue the mutants, finding them in the clutches
of a group of mutants that wanted to create havoc and terror. The leader
of them had the ability to generate and throw flames, which he used against
the X-Men. Jean had been in a mental battle with another of there
members, an androgynous blond telepath. Logan gestured for Scott and Ororo to
get the prisoners, most of whom looked about fourteen. To prevent the
leader from noticing their actions, Logan had opted to be the distraction. He
had charged at the man, his claws bared, growling.
They had managed to get the frightened kids onto the plane, and
Jean had somehow rendered the other psychic unconscious. Jean was now
tending to the bruises and cuts that a few of them had suffered. Everyone
accounted for except Logan. Ororo looked to see how he was, and flinched at what
she saw.
The fire thrower was down, a small pool of blood around him.
Another mutants, a woman with green hair, had been flung into a stack of
crates, and wasn't moving. The scent of burned meat hung heavy in the air, and
the source of it was Logan. His hair was gone, leaving his scalp
blistered and exposed. Painful looking burns were over his arms, his chest, on
his legs. The uniform hung in tatters, ash flaking from the edges in some
places. He looked like the monster out of a horror film, and his eyes still
showed nothing.
Logan boarded the plane, and was silent the entire trip back to
the mansion. Ororo kept glancing at him. He was healing, the blisters
subsiding, and new skin growing over the burns as they flew back to
Westchester. Despite the fact that he must be in terrible pain, he
hadn't said a word, merely dropped into the seat and buckled his seat belt.
She had to find a way to help him. The only question, how to
convince him to let her help him when he had cut himself of from letting
anything make him feel? The task ahead would not be easy.
end Shattered Dreams.