"How's she doin'?" Rogue asked, softly, gazing upon the injured Storm.
"Better than I thought she'd be doin'." Wolverine replied, gruffly, his eyes half-opened and fixed on Storm with gentleness and concern. "She took one hell of a hit. Surprised she's not ... worse off."
"Mah god, how the heck could someone do this?" Rogue growled, kicking the wall of the cave they'd found refuge inside of.
"Good job ya don't have ya powers, else ya would've killed us." Wolverine barked.
"Ah just regained mah powers six months ago after the threat o' dying after three days. Now Ah don't have mah powers and Ah got the risk of freezing to death – that is, if Ah don't die o' starvation, first." Rogue seethed. "Ah guess Ah should be glad Ah don't have mah powers and Ah can still live."
"Shame ya livin' in such a hell hole as this, right now, though, huh?" Wolverine smiled, poisonously, spitting out a spiteful laugh.
"Well, I liked my powers." Jubilee retorted, shortly.
"Who doesn't like the idea o' shootin' fireworks outta their fingers?" Rogue replied, wrapping her arms around the shivering seventeen year old, rubbing her to keep her warm. "God knows we could do with some fireworks righ' now – keep us nice an' warm, huh?"
"Well we don't have any fireworks, or any fire, so ya gonna have to make do." Wolverine snapped, his gaze permanently attached on Storm.
"Hmmm," Rogue mused with a soft, throaty giggle. "If only Gambit was here. We could steal his lighter – his stinkin' habit would be put to good use, then."
"Yeah, we could use his body as firewood, too, after I've finished with him. That big head of his could burn for days." Wolverine smiled, shutting his eyes to imagine his horrible fantasy.
"Oh, shut up." Rogue scolded. "He's not that bad once ya getta know him."
"Trust you to say that." Wolverine replied, though not unkindly. "Ya deserve better than him." He added, giving her a meaningful look.
"Ya don't know how much you lookin' out for me means to me, Logan," Rogue said, gently, "but if Ah'm in love with a Cajun thief rather than a charmin' Prince, Ah don't care about anythin' else."
"Not even a charmin' Prince is good enough for you, darlin'." Wolverine retorted.
"You know, since we might die here, why don't you share why you're so protective of Rogue." Jubilee piped up, gazing over Rogue's arms at Wolverine, who was still tending to the unconscious Storm. "Do you ... like ... love her?"
Wolverine glared at Jubilee for a while, before turning back to Storm and tucking a blanket tighter to her.
"Rogue saved my wife from dying, a long time ago, back when she was still ... on the wrong path." Wolverine admitted, quietly. "For that, I'm forever grateful."
"But she died! Itsu still died, damn it." Rogue spat, angrily – she'd still not forgotten nor forgiven the fact that saving Wolverine's wife's life the first time had been in vain.
"Ya still put ya life on the line just to save her. How could ya have known she was gonna get killed, anyway?" Wolverine soothed, memories flooding into his mind and bringing a knot to his throat.
Wolverine coughed, clearing the knot away. Jubilee stayed quiet, not realising that Wolverine had even been married. In her opinion, Wolverine was the quiet, loner type who especially didn't fall in love.
"Ya saved mah life, though ... after she died ..." Rogue whispered. "We're even."
"Ya don't know how much Itsu meant to me ... we'll never be even after ya saved her life ... I'll always be in ya debt." Wolverine explained.
Suddenly, Storm stirred and began coughing. Wolverine, quickly, put his arm under Storm's neck and raised her up, gently, into a sitting position. Storm rubbed her eyes with her hands, trying to remember what had happened. She was suddenly whacked by the coldness. She drew the blankets closer to her, as Rogue and Jubilee rushed to her side. Storm suddenly felt dizzy and dropped into Wolverine, who wrapped his arm around her and held her against him. Her head on his shoulder, Storm began to realise where she was.
"Have I been out for long?" Storm questioned, wearily.
"Ya've been out for a couple of days." Wolverine replied, gently, rubbing Storm to keep her warm. "Here, lie back down. I'll go and get some food."
"Where are you going to find food in this place?" Storm asked as Wolverine helped her lie down again.
Storm rested her head on Rogue's lap, allowing Jubilee to use the other blanket to wrap around herself. Jubilee cuddled up to the two women, the three managing to keep warm.
"He's been huntin' since we got here – Wolverine, the wild man of the Antarctic – doesn't get cold and can hunt even in blizzards. As long as ya don't mind polar bear, ya good for the while we're stayin' here." Rogue grinned.
"Yeah, he's even making us blankets and stuff out of the bear's fur! I feel really bad though – I mean, I feel guilty for eating them and watching Wolverine skin them." Jubilee sighed.
"Become a vegetarian or an animal rights activist when we get home, then, Jubes. Anyway, I didn't hear one peep of complaint outta ya when ya were eatin' the damn thing." Rogue teased, poking Jubilee's cheek.
"Shut up!" Jubilee protested. "I was hungry! I'm just saying that I feel guilty now, you know?"
Wolverine gazed on the scene before him. His imagination immediately twisted the scene in his mind. The scene reminded him of a normal life – he was the father going out to work, his daughters sat teasing each other whilst his wife tended to them. He shook the image from his mind – his daughters turned back into Rogue and Jubilee, his wife turned back into the sick Storm.
With a growl, Wolverine turned his back on the women. He was going to protect and look after them no matter the cost. As soon as Storm was better, they'd find their way off of the Antarctic and into civilisation, before returning back to the Institute. As soon as Storm could use her powers again, they'd find the rest of the X-Men and then Xavier.
PURE – meaning 'Purging Ultra Races from Existence – were vicious mutant haters. Months ago, PURE had kidnapped Havok, Jubilee, Spyke, Iceman, Sunfire and Shadowcat. Whilst attempting to rescue the six teenage X-Men, Rogue, Cyclops and Xavier had been taken. Beast, Colossus, Jean, Wolverine, Storm, Gambit and Nightcrawler were forced to evacuate. When they returned, a few months later, the remaining X-Men had managed to leave PURE headquarters with information on where their kidnapped team mates had been dumped a month previously to their third attempt at rescuing them.
Havok, Jubilee, Spyke, Iceman, Sunfire, Shadowcat, Cyclops and Rogue had been dumped in different places - Jubilee and Rogue on the Antarctic, Cyclops, Havok and Sunfire were dumped on a tiny, abandoned island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, whislt Shadowcat, Spyke and Iceman had been dumped in the Sahara desert.
PURE had inserted chips inside their brains, blocking the X-Gene from working. Xavier had been the only mutant that the chip wouldn't work on. No one knew what had happened to Xavier. The remaining X-men had split into teams to track down their powerless mutant comrades and try to figure out how to get the chips out.
Wolverine sniffed the air and spotted his prey. After deciding the right moment, Wolverine leapt onto the polar bear, and, with a swift slice of his claws, the polar bear was dead, painlessly and quickly. Wolverine dragged the polar bear back to the cave, skinning in and chopping it up into chunks.
Wolverine was furious at himself for allowing this all to happen. He'd make it right, he'd Storm, Jubilee and Rogue. He'd help find the others and he'd help find a way of getting the chips out of their brains – even if it meant calling upon the assistance of Dr. Adler – whom he'd not had the chance to show a piece of his mind, after Adler had helped Mister Sinister take Rogue's powers. He'd then find Charles Xavier – the man who'd saved him from a life not worth living – before destroying PURE and killing everyone to do with the organisation. His loathing against PURE was rich and powerful, even though, before the kidnapping of the younger mutants, he'd never heard of it. He didn't care how long he'd hated the organisation, he was going to destroy it.
Inside the cave, Jubilee tended to Storm. Rogue left and wandered around the outside of the cave, watching Wolverine drag the polar bear body towards the cave, before halting a few feet away and slicing it up into skin and chunks of food.
Rogue wondered where Gambit was, how he was doing, if he'd found the others. She'd given herself to him completely and fully, only half a year previously. It had already been six months since she'd regained her powers – managing to spend two whole days with the love of her life, being able to do all of the things she'd wanted to do – managing to be a proper couple with him. She was now on the other side of the world, away from him, powerless again. But this time, she wasn't going to die after three days.
Rogue sighed.
Was this a blessing in disguise? All she knew what that all the insecurities she'd had previously, all the different thoughts, all the different points of view – whether she should keep her powers or not – kept passing through her mind. Was this a second chance at being able to be normal and hold onto Gambit? It had been a terribly hard transition at being able to hold him and kiss him and more, to being able to not even touch his hand, again. She missed his touch so much and wondered whether living without his touch and not knowing it was better than living without his touch having had it.
"Who the hell is pulling the strings to this puppet show?" Rogue spat, staring into the heavens above her – clouds filled with fresh snow.
She sighed, again, and strode over to Wolverine, helping him bring some of the polar bear meat to the cave.