RESCUE

Yukio noticed that Logan was strangely silent as their jet crossed the Pacific. Even his fear of flying didn't seem to bother him as he steadily become more and more withdrawn. After they landed in Vancouver, he told Yukio that they were heading inland. Yukio was used to obeying orders with little or no question, so she quickly rented a sturdy SUV, using a Yashida Corporation credit-card that had an upper limit greater than the gross domestic product of some countries.

Before they left town, Logan gave Yukio a set of coordinates - seemingly from memory - that she carefully punched into the vehicle's GPS system.

As they left town, Yukio was behind the wheel and she was a bit surprised that Logan didn't insist on driving. But then, in her time with Logan she had learned that he was full of surprises.

"Where are we going?" Yukio asked once they cleared the city limits and merged onto the highway. They were heading northeast.

"Alkali Lake," Logan said curtly.

Yukio frowned. The name meant nothing to her.

"What's there?" she asked.

"Maybe nothing. Maybe something. I have to check," Logan replied.

Then he fell silent. Yukio studied his profile for a long moment, then she went back to keeping her eyes on the road.

Eventually they turned north. Logan was silent throughout the drive, staring straight forward and with no particular expression on his face. His thoughts were obviously far away. It was unnerving.

After a long day on the road, they pulled off into a motel parking lot. A truck-stop was located on the other side of the road. Both places had seen better days and were surrounded by a seemingly-endless range of massively tall pines. Yukio rented a room while Logan got a table at the truck-stop's restaurant. The food in the truck-stop was characterized by large portions and mediocre quality. Logan ate enough for two men - he was still recovering from all the damage he had regenerated in Japan - while Yukio poked unenthusiastically at a limp salad.

"Is there anything I should know about where we're going?" Yukio asked finally.

Logan frowned as he finished his cup of coffee.

"There was a military base at Alkali Lake," he began, his voice more than a little bleak. "That was where they changed me. Then I escaped and I lost my memory. Fifteen years later, Charles Xavier helped me get enough of my memory back that I finally remembered Alkali Lake. I went back, but by then the base was empty. I thought I was done with the place."

Yukio nodded cautiously.

Logan sighed. "But we never seem to be done with Alkali Lake. Later on, I went back again with the X-Men. We did that because a bastard named William Stryker was putting the place back into operation. He kidnapped a bunch of kids from our school. He planned on using them as lab rats for his experiments. It was a bad decision."

"You killed him?" Yukio asked.

Logan shook his head, "No. Magneto did that. But... but things happened. The place flooded. We got the kids out. And Jean Grey died saving us from the flood."

Yukio looked puzzled, "I thought you..."

Then Yukio realized what she was about to say and ground to a horrified stop.

Logan didn't react. "Yeah, I killed Jean in San Francisco, but that was later. After we lost Jean at Alkali Lake, Scott started to go over the edge. Eventually he went back north to take another look at the place. I don't know what he expected to find, but he and Jean had been pretty tight - I was always the short leg of that triangle - so maybe he knew something I didn't. Or maybe he was just crazy with grief. The rest of us knew that Scotty's head was messed up, so me and Ororo went after him. We never found him, but we did find Jean. She... well I suppose you could say she'd come back from the dead. Or something like her had come back from the dead."

Logan paused as Yukio felt a chill go through her.

"So we found Jean, but we lost Scott," Logan continued quietly. "Then we found out that Jean had changed, and none of the change was good. Jean hooked up with Magneto - who had no damned idea what he was dealing with. After that was the big fight in San Francisco."

Yukio nodded and shoved her salad away. What little appetite she had was gone. "What are we looking for at Alkali Lake?"

The waitress poured Logan some more coffee. He waited until she was gone.

"We never did find Scott. We figured that Jean killed him."

Yukio studied Logan's face, "You want to find your friend's body?"

Logan didn't answer. His eyes were flat and lifeless as they looked out at places and people that were far away and long ago.

The motel room looked worn and tired, and was decorated in a style forty years out of date. However, it was more-or-less clean. There was only one bed and Yukio promptly hung her katana from one of its posts. Once she made sure the door was secured, Yukio sat on the bed and began taking off her boots.

Logan gave her a skeptical look.

"I'm your bodyguard," Yukio said as she carefully put her boots on the floor at the foot of the bed. "I can't guard you if I'm in another room."

Logan didn't say anything.

"It would also be best if I sleep in the bed with you," Yukio continued.

"Yukio..." Logan said warily, trying to find a way to put a complex set of objections into words.

"And we probably should have sex," Yukio continued, her voice more practical than anything else. "We need to get the issue out of the way sooner or later. However, I won't be insulted if you don't want to. But no matter what, I can't do my job if I'm not close to you. And there is no way you can talk me out of this."

Logan looked into Yukio's dark eyes as he considered her words. Then he shook his head and growled, "You damn ninjas..."

"We are a stubborn lot," Yukio finished for him with a small smile.

"And too serious for your own good," Logan added.

Yukio just nodded in agreement as she pulled off her socks.

Still shaking his head, Logan kicked off his boots.

They didn't make love. Instead they lay awake for a long time, Logan's arms were wrapped around Yukio as she spooned against him, her back to his front. Outside, trucks roared by on the road that was just outside their window.

Logan drove the next day. It was another long drive with a minimum of conversation. As the hours passed, the roads steadily decreased in quality and after a while were nothing but gravel, dirt, and ruts. But by sundown they had reached an isolated trailhead.

"It's another ten miles by foot," Logan told Yukio. She nodded and began rummaging through her bag for warmer clothes and a pair of hiking boots.

Logan held up a hand, "We don't have much light left, I was thinking we'd stay here tonight and leave at daybreak."

"Neither one of us really needs much light," Yukio said as she wiggled out of her tight jeans and reached for a pair of woolen hiking pants.

Logan smiled, trying not to notice her garishly pink panties. They matched Yukio's hair.

It was just before midnight when they reached the shore of Alkali Lake. By the light of a half moon, Logan gathered enough dry wood for a fire - they didn't have a lot of camping gear and the extra warmth was a good idea.

They lay down next to one another by the fire. Yukio wrapped her arms around Logan and rested her head on his chest. She was asleep in a matter of minutes. Logan listened to Yukio's soft breathing and the lapping of the lake water, stared up at the moon, and thought about his last - dream? conversation? - with Jean.

Before he told her that he didn't want to die. Before she said goodbye. Jean had said something. Something that was stuck in Logan's head and wouldn't go away.

She had asked Logan to join her. Because she was alone.

Alone.

Logan eventually closed his eyes. And his sleep was deep and dreamless.

Breakfast was a pair of protein bars and some bottled water.

"You slept well last night," Yukio said carefully.

"Yeah," Logan said with a shrug.

"Now what?" Yukio asked.

"Now we walk around the lake. Keep your eyes open."

"For what?"

Logan squinted at the rising sun and said, "We'll know when we see it."

Yukio didn't sigh, but she wanted to.

They covered several miles quickly, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. But Yukio could feel the tension building in Logan as they approached a particular gravel-strewn beach. She could tell that he was on full alert. Yukio shifted her katana into a more accessible position and tested the weapon's draw.

When they reached the edge of the beach, Logan crouched down just inside the treeline and warily watched it for several long minutes. After a while, Yukio touched Logan's arm to get his attention. She made several rapid hand gestures that suggested she could head inland, skirt around the beach, and then approach from the other side. That way they could trap whatever the hell they were looking for between them.

Logan shook his head and stood up. He was still wary, but the previous high level of tension had bled away.

"This is where we found Jean," Logan said.

Yukio looked at him, but said nothing.

Logan nodded his head inland. "Ororo landed the jet back there. We had a signal from Scott's communicator that said he was here. We didn't find him, but we did find Jean."

Yukio still didn't say anything. It was obvious that this was something Logan had to do. He had to see this place again. He had to continue coming to grips with the past.

"The rocks were floating," Logan continued.

Her eyes narrowed as Yukio wondered if she had heard Logan correctly.

"People with telekinesis, if they aren't in control, sometimes do things like that," Logan said distantly. "We should have thought about that. We should have asked ourselves what that meant. But we didn't. We were worried about Scott, but then we found Jean and couldn't find Scott. Too much was happening too fast and we were reacting instead of thinking. We kept looking for Scott - one of us searching while the other kept an eye on Jean. Ororo flew over the area and couldn't spot him. I tracked the area, but couldn't catch his scent. And we had to get Jean back to the school. So we left."

Logan paused again, still staring at the beach.

"After San Francisco we came back here and tried again for a solid week. And then we tried again a few weeks later. After a while, we weren't trying to rescue Scott - we were just trying to find a body to bury. But we kept looking until we had to admit there was nothing to find. But it never stopped nagging at us. The feeling that we didn't look hard enough. That we should have kept going a little longer. That maybe we should go back and try again."

Logan ground to a halt, seemingly out of words.

"I'm sorry, Logan," Yukio said softly.

Logan stepped out of the treeline and onto the beach. Then he paused, scanning the shore and sniffing the air.

"C'mon, Jean," Yukio heard Logan whisper. And Yukio felt her heart sink. It had seemed to her that Logan was getting better. That he was letting go of his soul-deep misery and barely concealed madness...

A whisper of wind shook the pine trees and rippled the water of the lake.

Logan cocked his head slightly. The way a dog or a hawk does in order to adjust his vision or hearing.

Yukio touched Logan on the shoulder. "Logan..." she began. Then stopped, not sure what to say.

"Let him go," Logan said, seemingly to thin air. "You ain't got a mean bone in you, Jean. It was the Phoenix who took him, but there was enough of you left so that you couldn't kill him. That's what you meant when you said you were alone. He isn't with you because he isn't dead."

The wind intensified. Yukio squinted into wind-blown dust that rippled off the beach. Logan didn't react to it.

"I know you're scared, Jean," Logan continued. "I know you don't want to be alone. But there's only one way he can be with you and you're not going to do that. You gotta be brave. It's time to let him go."

The wind suddenly died. The area suddenly became still. It was as if the lake and surrounding hills was holding its breath.

There was a soft splash from the shoreline. The kind you might hear if a fish had jumped.

Logan instantly began running. Yukio followed automatically, not allowing him to get too far in front.

At the lake shore, a form - a naked man, shivering and curled up into a ball - was laying half-in and half-out of the water. Logan splashed next to the man, reached down, and roughly dragged him out of the water. Yukio saw that the man was actually conscious, but obviously not fully in control of his body. And the grimace on his face seemed to indicate that he was forcing himself to keep his eyes tightly shut.

Then Yukio finally understood.

For a brief moment, as Logan hauled Scott to his feet, he looked Scott directly in the face. If Scott were to open his eyes...

It didn't happen. Scott was simply too disciplined.

"You okay?" Logan growled, shifting his grip on Scott as Yukio pulled Logan's coat loose and draped it around Scott's shoulders.

"Shit. It's you," Scott gasped through chattering teeth. His disgust was obvious.

Logan couldn't help but smile. Then he began walking Scott away from the lake.

Behind them, Yukio stared out at the lake, trying to decide if she should be awestruck or afraid. Then she gave up, folded her hands in front of her body, and bowed deeply to the wind and water.

Another gust of wind blew in from the lake.

It felt as if someone had ran their hand through Yukio's hair.