A little longer than the last :)
Sleep wasn't being kind to me. I tossed and turned, switched my bed around so my pillow was where my feet were supposed to be but the Sandman seemed to have other ideas.
I yawned and sat up, kneading my eyes. Clothes, magazines, homework, books and make-up were strewn across the floor, most of it hidden in shadow and a good booby trap if anyone tried to come in. Pulling on a pair of socks, a sock on my cast arm and the closest silk glove I could find, I padded down to the kitchen. The mansion was silent, just the occasional creak of a floorboard and rattle of a pipe. The kitchen was flooded with moonlight pouring in through the windows, casting shadows dancing across the walls as I opened up the fridge for some water.
"Likin' the mismatched socks," said a low voice from the corner.
I spun to find Logan leaning back in a chair and lighting a cigar, a beer bottle on the windowsill next to him. Then I looked down and discovered I'd put my owl printed sock on my hand, a knee-high penguin sock on my right foot and a knee-high galactic sock on my left. I rapidly felt rather stupid and a little exposed in my gym shorts and spaghetti strap top
"It was dark," I said in my defense, taking him in. He was dressed in his usual jeans, wifebeater and plaid shirt, though had no belt, and his hair was mussed like he'd been tossing in bed like me. "Couldn't sleep?"
"Nope. You?"
"Same." I poured some cold water into a glass and returned the jug back to the fridge. "Stryker?" I asked
He shook his head, taking a drag of his cigar. "Old memories."
I set the glass on the table and hopped up onto it, crossed-legged and facing Logan. He was mainly in shadow, the cigar tip glowing orange when he took a puff. "You chaperoning for Illyana's party tomorrow?"
"'Ro wants me to."
"But that doesn't mean you want to," I said with a grin. I picked up my glass. "Please come."
"It's a tee-total party."
"I'm sure you're not incapable of sneaking some beer in."
He grunted, downed the rest of his bottle and turned his gaze out of the window. I took the moment to study him. The perpetual frown and tightness round his jaw were hardly there and his shoulders were loose. It was as though my company was relaxing him which made me proud since he deserved some time to be himself without having to worry about the school and the kids he had unwittingly become guardian of.
"Do yeh wanna practice?"
Logan's voice shook me out of my reverie. His hazel eyes burned my skin as they searched my face for an answer.
"I'm kind of tired, just to warn you," I said, taking off my glove and placing it beside me.
He shrugged and lifted up his chair, putting it in front of me. "I heal, Marie."
He had a point, as usual.
I scratched the corner of my eye as he held out his hand, so trusting, so willing, so nonchalant as to what could happen if I couldn't hold my mutation back. I held mine three inches above his and breathed as slowly as possible, counting to ten with each one. Fear bubbled under the surface, threatening to break free as it always did, like I had let it for four years. I'd let it control me, let it dictate what I could and couldn't do rather than work to overcome it.
The initial, instinctive fear faded and I dropped my hand to two inches above his. Not seeming at all bothered, he took a drag on his cigar and gradually exhaled the smoke, an opaque cloud glowing silver in the moonlight.
I dropped my hand closer and closer to Logan's, fighting the fear and concentrating on my breathing. My hand was close enough that I was beginning to experience the customary pull of my skin yearning for someone's essence. I pushed it down, a sudden desperate desire to touch Logan's skin rushing through me, and I gingerly placed my hand on his.
It was even better than earlier that day when I'd managed to touch him for nearly ten seconds. Then, there had been a faint pull, but now, there was nothing. Just the rough feel of Logan's hand beneath mine. I could almost feel the ridges of his fingerprints under my hypersensitive tips, so used to being incased in silk, the warmth and life in the thrum of his pulse. I marveled once more at the differences between our hands; the lightness and the darkness, the big and the small, the smoothness and the roughness.
I looked up at Logan to find him watching me intently. There was an expression in his eyes I'd never seen before, anger and longing warring with each other. He threaded his fingers through mine and pulled gently, sliding me along the table inexorably towards him. I had no concern of my bare knees as he-
A sudden piercing scream rang through the night, jerking me from whatever trance I'd been trapped in and switching on my skin. Logan streamed into my mind for a brief moment, a kaleidoscope of memories and feelings, before I was able to yank my hand away. The slight ache in my shoulder from the weight of the cast vanished as his healing factor got to work.
"Theresa," I breathed, gazing at the kitchen doorway.
Glancing over my shoulder to check Logan was suffering no ill effects of my mutation, I leapt off the table, swiping up my glove as I did so, and sprinted out of the kitchen.
"Rogue?" yelled a frantic sounding Ororo. "Rogue! Where are you?"
"I'm here!" I called, watching her appear at the top of the stairs as Logan stopped beside me.
"It's them," she said to him. "You have to follow the plan. Now!"
I was grateful I'd put my glove back on as he grabbed my wrist and dragged me down the corridor towards the garage.
"What's happening?" I demanded, nearly slipping as we rounded a corner at high speed.
"Magneto," he growled, dodging a group of students coming in the opposite direction.
There was a loud crash followed by a thud and a scream. Kitty suddenly emerged before us and we almost ran through her.
"There's more than we thought," she gasped. "Ororo says you'll have to forget the bag and use the use the hidden BUG bag." She vanished.
Logan's following words could've shriveled the ears of a seasoned drunken sailor. He wheeled us round and we shot back along the corridor, pushing past students racing to the safety of the hidden network of tunnels throughout the mansion. We sprinted past the staircase only to be met by two black clad figures wearing helmets with visors.
Logan released his claws and charged at them, stabbing them both in the chest before they had a chance to do anything. He seized my wrist again and we continued along the corridor.
"Where are we going?" I shouted as gunfire sounded several floors up, adding to the pounding of my heart in my ears.
He growled, shoving open a half-hidden door and revealing the clear night. Black silhouettes sprinted across the lawns towards the mansion, some with guns, the laser lights flitting over the ivy-covered walls, and others clearly prepping their powers.
"Get into the woods without being seen," he snarled, pushing me forward and closing the door after him.
I stumbled, the damp grass soaking my soaks, and Logan took hold of my hand, pulling me forwards. Someone yelled and gunfire added to the cries and crashes of the night. Geysers of dirt sprayed up everywhere as we dashed over the dark lawns, my arms and legs pounding in tandem.
"She's getting away!" bellowed a voice behind us. "Shoot the big guy!"
Logan growled, gunshots ringing out, then staggered as he was hit. But he ploughed on, determined to get me into the woods for whatever reason. Over the noise, I heard booted feet chasing after us, thudding heavily on the ground, and the rattle of weapons and equipment.
"C'mon, kid," muttered Logan. "You gotta run."
"I am running!" I protested, the ground becoming covered in twigs and dead leaves which dug into my feet.
"Do it faster!"
More gunshots resounded through the night. My breath was ragged in my chest and my legs were burning despite the hit from Logan's healing factor. Time seemed to stretch for an eternity, the woods seeming to move further and further away as we struggled to get closer, and the gunshots seemed to intensify.
The edge of the woods were a few meters away when Logan suddenly threw us to the ground, tumbling and pinning me under him as the world seemed to explode, chunks of earth raining down on us. Nothing but the sound of a sharp ringing filled my ears as Logan was yanked off me, disappearing from sight. I rolled, the world a little fuzzy, and blinked, trying to see where he had gone. Something flew past the corner of my eye and I lurched back to avoid it, scrambling to my feet. I caught sight of Logan who was busy fending three black-clad guys at once, the moonlight turning their shadows into a flurry of movement on the ground.
Someone was shouting something except my ears were too full of ringing to understand it. I would've thought Logan's healing factor might've helped. It was obviously having a momentary break.
An object flitted past me. I started and saw it was another black-clad figure, their helmet visor glinting menacingly in the moonlight. They lunged at me, gloved hands outstretched to reach for me. I didn't really think of what I was doing as I swung my cast round and slammed it into their neck, sending them crumpling to the ground. I nearly followed, my shoulder complaining painfully. But I had little time to gather myself together before a familiar hand grasped my mine and hauled me in the direction of the woods.
"I told you to come in here!" Logan growled as we entered the fringes of the wood.
"Couldn't hear anything," I gasped, dodging a tree. "How…much further?" There is only so much support a spaghetti strap top can give you and when you're my size, that's hardly anything.
He slowed, letting go of me and rushed to a large pile of leaves. Retracting his claws and sweeping the leaves aside, he revealed Scott's motorbike, sitting in all its pride and glory in the moonshine. He slung a leg over the seat, started the ignition and glanced back at me.
"Get on." He jumped the kick-start and the engine roared to life.
I hurriedly clambered on behind him, wrapping my arms round his warm broad chest as five men burst out of the trees, guns and voices raised. Logan twisted the throttle roughly and the bike snarled, fishtailing on the leaf litter. Finding traction, it sped us off into the darkness of the night.
Reviews welcome :)
