Disclaimer: I dont own the X-men,

I've dome some rewritting to this chapter, thought I would expand on Alexis's story and utilise the M rating a bit more, so enjoy the expanded chapter


The Dream we Share

Chapter 12: Feral Rage

"Alexis…what happened to the Sentinel in the end?" Logan asked.

"Logan, the Sentinel was actually a machine/human hybrid, a boy that had been forced to obey a program, we restored the boy and put him in a new body, Karl regrets what he's done" Xavier explained, looking to Karl as he leant back into his chair.

Logan took a deep breath, his hand moving towards the auto pilot button. An alarmed look crossed Xavier's face while Emma smirked.

"Oh my stars and garters" Hank muttered.

SNIKT!

"RAAAAAAAARGH!" Logan roared, running towards Karl.

He swung his claws at Karl, who rolled off his seat, just dodging the blades that cut through the headrest. Wolverine snarled at Karl as the young sentinel/human hybrid rolled onto his feet. Karl's HUD flashed as Wolverine jumped towards him. Beast wrapped his arms around Logan's waist, slamming him headfirst against the ground.

"Logan calm down or you'll go into your berserker state" Beast told him.

"HE MURDERED ALEXIS!" Logan yelled.

"Logan please listen he wasn't in control of his actions" Xavier said, placing his hands over Wolverine's head.

Wolverine thrashed around, slamming his head into beast's nose and slipping out of Xavier's grip. He slashed Karl across the chest, exposing his wires and guts. Karl looked at the veins hanging out of his armour before looking at Wolverine. The man's teeth seemed sharper, with foam hanging off his lip. He couldn't be considered a man anymore. Wolverine well and truly lived up to his name. He was a rapid dog now!

"That will be quite enough" Emma said.

A psi-wave flew from the woman's mind and straight into Wolverine's memories. The man stopped for a moment, his eyes going blank. Psychically he was comatose while his consciousness awoke in a hut, shirtless with his claws pierced through his bed.

"I figured I'd take you to a nice calm place, although its significance to you is lost on me" Emma said, standing at the edge of Wolverine's bed wearing just a white dressing gown.

"You don't want to mess with my head Frost" Logan growled.

"I make no apologies for it, not because you would destroy the Sentinel but because of the smell of oil and guts I would have to put up with" Emma shrugged.

Wolverine retracted his claws, getting off his bed and looking down at Frost with a frown.

"Guts, what do you mean?" He asked.

"Exactly what I said, right now Henry is scooping some of Karl's veins off the floor, he has organs inside that shell you were about to open, heart, lungs, bits and pieces of the human nervous system and a human brain"

"He's human!" Logan said, lowering his shoulders and eyebrows.

"Oh no, he could hardly be considered human anymore, hell we're more human than him and that's saying something" Emma smirked.

"Take me back to the jet!"

"Why so soon, I thought we'd take a trip down memory lane, at least some of the memories that you can actually remember" Emma's gown shifted into her business dress as the hut disappeared, replaced with the school grounds, however the mansion was much smaller.

Logan watched himself walk up to the gate, holding a piece of paper with the address of the mansion. The mansion was much smaller, a reflection of the small student body the school once had. He had pushed the intercom, waiting for a response.

"Hello and welcome to the Xavier institute for people with insanely explosive gifts, if you are looking for the extremely hot Jean Grey please get the hell out of here cause that fish has already been caught, if you're an anti mutant zealot run away as fast as you can cause I'm coming to get you!" The voice growled on the other side.

"Kevin get away from that intercom" A woman said in the background.

"It's Morph and please don't interrupt me I've got a hundred different options…wait a minute Jean where did you come from? Wait, I'm sorry about the fish comment…NOOOO!" Morph yelled.

Logan coughed, suppressing his amusement over the young mutant's gags.

"Hello Mr…Logan, I'm Jean Grey, Xavier will see you now if you'd like to walk up to the mansion" Jean said.

The gate slowly opened and Logan walked up to the smaller mansion. Jean waited at the door, wearing a green dress with yellow boots and gloves. Logan gave her a small look over, admiring her legs and hair for a moment before he walked into the mansion. Beside the intercom was a puddle of what looked like white play dough. Suddenly the play dough came to life and shaped into a young brown haired boy wearing a yellow and black suit.

"One of these days I'll find some way to overcome your little deconstruction methods Jean, then I can gag about you and never have to worry about you turning me into a puddle" The boy said.

"Behave yourself Kevin" Jean said, poking the boy's nose.

Logan looked at the mansion, a mildly impressive sight considering how rich Xavier was. Looking at the top of the stairs he narrowed his eyes, seeing a boy the same age as Jean, wearing a blue suit with yellow gloves and boots, wearing some kind of yellow visor over his eyes. Then Logan focused his eyes on the man that came rolling past the boy. Charles Xavier rolled himself towards an elevator built for him. When he was on the ground floor he looked at Logan directly in the eyes.

"I trust you had a good journey" Xavier said casually.

"If you could call hitch hiking on a train a good journey then yeah I suppose it was good" Logan said, frowning down at Xavier.

"Yes sorry about that, I had heard of your ideal with Department H, I also disagree with what they have been doing, withholding information on Weapon X, the people whom erased your memory, while I respected their actions in forming Alpha Flight I can not condone how they have responded to mutants in that area, treating them like criminals and forcing them to work for Alpha Flight is something I can not condone" Xavier explained.

"I had the intention of leaving the country, but you supposedly have something better to offer me, so lets hear it"

"I run a school for gifted youngsters, specifically mutants, here we educate young mutants on not only control of their powers but also basic education and human/mutant relationship ethics, we encourage understand and offer assistance to both our fellow mutants and humankind as a whole"

"That's nice but what does it do for me?" Logan asked.

"Is gives you the chance to do something your good at for the good of the entire world" Xavier said.

Logan laughed, rolling his head back while Morph and Jean looked at him in confusion. Xavier however knew exactly why he was laughing.

"I have memories of men in suits and uniforms telling me the exact same thing, and look where its gotten me now" Logan said.

"Look at me Logan, I will honestly say that I am not going to betray you, I'm not even going to use you…this school is a sanctuary for mutants, your self included Logan, we don't attack, we defend and rescue"

"Sounds good but I'm not buying it, I'm not some kid you can raise with your ideals"

"I am well aware of that Logan, I have a dream that I wish to share with all mutant and humankind, and I'd like you to be a part of that dream" Xavier said, offering the man his hand. "At least give my world a try!"

Logan looked at the moment when he shook Xavier's hand. It was a moment that changed his life. Emma stood beside him, smirking at the memory. She walked beside Logan, heading into another memory. The X-men were younger and smaller, consisting of just Cyclops and Jean. As Marvel Girl, Jean was wearing a yellow mask over her eyes and firing telekinetic blasts alongside Scott. Their energy blasts flew into the barrier of a man wearing a purple cloak and helmet. In a time where Magneto had begun his first rise to power, the X-men had revealed themselves to stop him.

"Your first mission didn't live up to your expectations" Emma said.

"Stay out of my head Frost, bad enough your looking at the only memories I have" Logan said.

He watched himself and suppressed a smile. On his first mission, Logan had allowed himself to be goaded into wearing yellow and black spandex uniform, with the X symbol on his breast. He had popped out his claws and ran through Magneto's acolytes, men wearing black uniforms and visors. They were all no match for Logan; he didn't even need to cut them deeply. Wolverine punched and slashed the Acolytes surrounding a short but bulky brown haired boy. He was both groups target for recruitment, Hank McCoy.

"Never thought Beast was so cute before he grew the blue fur" Emma whistled.

Wolverine roared, head butting an Acolyte and grabbing the collar of Hank's shirt.

"Come on bub we need to get you out of here" He said, throwing him over his shoulder.

Cyclops fired another optic blast into Magneto's magnetic bubble. But the attacks of the inexperienced young man weren't enough to stop the master of magnetism. With one wave of his hand, Magneto bent and manipulated the metal girders around him, wrapping them around Cyclops and Marvel Girl.

"WOLVERINE GET HANK OUT NOW!" Cyclops yelled.

But Wolverine suddenly found himself being suspended above the air. He growled, feeling as if his bones were being twisted around inside him.

"STOP!" Hank yelled, slamming his feet into Magneto's chest.

Emma smirked as she watched Wolverine's past self-fall to the ground, exhausted and beaten from Magneto's attack. Logan snorted, crossing his arms as he turned to another memory. After the mission, Logan had thrown his costume in Xavier's face.

"What the hell was that? I thought this was just a bag and grab" Logan growled.

"Logan we were there to help Hank not kidnap him" Xavier said.

"And yet we still get into a fight, my bones still ache from what Magneto did to me" Wolverine growled.

"Is that what this is about Logan, us facing an enemy that can make you feel vulnerable?" Xavier asked.

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME CHUCK!" Logan yelled, slamming his hands against Xavier's desk.

"The mission was a success, Hank is safe with us"

"Yeah because he chose to come with us, we still got our assess handed to us, this little squad your putting together doesn't have a chance without the proper training" Logan explained.

"Then I was hoping you could train them Logan" Xavier said, making no effort to hide his amused smile.

At the time Logan had blinked in confusion, but as he watched the memory he suppressed a smile. He agreed to stay and helped train the X-men into a better fighting unit. At the same time he had assisted them on missions, switching to a brown and orange costume as the team grew to include Colossus and Polaris. He remembered when he first met Alexis. The X-men were rushing down an alleyway and found a group of men wearing steel mask surrounding her. Wolverine was the first to move, using his claws to slash apart their baseball bats and crowbars.

"What a romantic first meeting, the heroes come to her rescue" Emma scoffed, looking at the helpless form of Alexis.

"Shut up Frost…anyone can be helpless, even the strongest of beings can be turned into a helpless child" Logan said.

Colossus threw one of the thugs against the wall and Beast kicked one in the chest. By the time they were done, it was the X-men that stood over Alexis. She looked at them, her eyes wide in shock as Jean and Lorna kneeled beside her. Her knees were scabby and her nails were broken. Unkempt hair covered her empty eyes and rags covered her slender frame. Logan had looked at the girl and it bought anger to him, he knew that the world was a bad place that bad things happened to good people. But he never could get over the sight of a broken woman. She trembled in fear as Logan took a step towards her. Her hands scraped themselves against the wall, she was practically clawing at the wall for an escape route.

"It's okay we're here to help you" Wolverine said, reaching for her shoulder.

"NO GET AWAY!" she screamed.

Wolverine's nose twitched as he smelt the chemicals coming from her mouth, chemicals that she would use to start a fire. He grabbed Polaris and Beast and threw them as far as he could away from Alexis. Prior to the start of the mission, S.H.I.E.L.D. authorities had informed them of her abilities. Her body could absorb sunlight which she could unleash from her body, but a far more dangerous ability was an ability to produce explosive chemicals to augment her fire creation abilities. Logan didnt remember his personal life, but what he did remember was the smell of gun powder and the resulting explosions. As Alexis screamed, flames shot forth from her mouth and nose. And then her entire body erupted in a flash of fire. Colosssus was armoured up and Jean bought up her telekinetic bubble to protect herself and Scott. Wolverine was the only one without any physcial protection from the burns. There had been three instances in his life where he remembered feeling physical pain beyond what Weapon X had done to him. The first was a mission with Department H against a green monster that American scientists had created. Magneto was the second, using his mastery over metal he bent and twisted Logan's bones from the inside. But Alexis, she was just a girl with no control over her powers, and Logan was a man with a healing factor.

"AAAAAAAAAGH!" He yelled out, not like a wild animal but a main enduring incredible pain.

Fire burnt away his hair and skin, which regenerated even under the pressure of the fire. Wolverine's healing factor not only saved him from death but ensured that he would experience more pain than any other man could bear. Burnt flesh stang Piotr's nostrels and Jean and Cyclops did everything they could not to throw up. Gone was Wolverine's spandex, replaced by his naked form, a mixture of exposed muscle, bubbling and fiery flesh, and metal from teh Adamantium covering his bones. Blood dripped across the floor, bubbling like fried eggs. The metal began to change an orange colour, conducting the heat and burning away more flesh. Tears ran down Alexis's eyes and Logan saw a look he recognised. The look of a broken creature, one he had before and one that to this day he continued to fight. Now he had a new fight, to save a girl from her own demons. He marched forward, preparing to take a gamble over the nature of how Alexis's body and powers worked. She generated the flames and explosive chemicals but she wasnt burnt by them, because her own body adapted itself to cope with the flames. He wrapped his arms around her, bringing his mouth to her ear. By concentrating he focused his healing factor, regenerating his vocal chords as he spoke three words to the distraught girl.

"It'll be okay"

Slowly the flames faded and Alexis's tears died down as she gripped Logan's sizzling arm. Beast and Polaris approached the scene, looking at Logan with a mix of concern and disgust.

"Its all right darlin, nothing will hurt you here" Logan whispered.

"Oh god, I didnt even do anything and people continued to look at me with those eyes...like I was some kind of animal, its not fair!" Alexis said.

"I know darlin, its up to people like us to make the world just little bit fairer a little bit at a time"

The X-men lowered their guard and watched as the man whom many called a animal comforted a girl that was anything but an animal. Emma looked over the scene, crossing her arms as she swayed her hips, turning to Logan.

"The girl had it so hard didn't she?" Emma asked.

"SHUT UP FROST!" Logan yelled.

He grabbed the woman's neck and slammed her against the wall of the jet.

"You have no idea what she went through, you don't have the right to make fun of her…she kept on going strong, hoping that she would find something worth going on for, but in the end her chance at a happy life was ruined by this thing" Logan growled, pointing at Karl.

Xavier lowered his head, knowing that this would be Logan's reaction. Karl got up off the ground and walked over to Logan. He grabbed his wrist and placed it against his chest.

"Pop your claws out Logan and kill me, kill me if you think it's what I deserve or if it'll avenge Alexis in anyway" Karl said.

Logan growled, pushing Karl away and letting go of Emma. She coughed, rubbing her throat while Logan looked Karl in the eye.

"Your saying you weren't aware of what you were doing?" Logan asked.

"No!"

"That you didn't harbour any ill feelings to mutants?"

"Not that I'm aware of…I don't remember much after becoming a Sentinel hybrid" Karl said.

"You've lost some of your memories?"

"Yes!"

Logan lowered his head and snarled. He really wanted to hate Karl, but he couldn't help but see similarities between the two of them. Both had been robbed of their humanity and both had had their memories taken away. Alls Logan had was small flashes and contradictions. Sometimes he remembered breaking through a glass tube, other times he remembered roaring as he awoke from a pool of water. In both instances his muscles rippled and his claws ripped out of his knuckles. Wires had popped out of his spine as he tore himself from the machines that replaced his bones with metal.

Everything else had been a blur, and pure animal rage and instincts took over. Guards shot at him with rifles, but the bullets bounced off of his new bones. He jumped at his attackers, cutting their heads apart with single slashes and stabbing through their chests. Running across the labs and down the grounds, his vision blurred and foam dripped off of his mouth. He didn't differentiate between threat or innocent, no one was innocent in his eyes, everything had to die. His claws cut through the arms of scientists and the body armour of guards. Screams echoed around him, overriding the sound of gunfire. Bullets were merely flies and the air was filled with bodies for Logan to slash. Cutting through flesh with adamantium was like touching air, sometimes he would have to put more effort into his swings, and when he did he didnt just settle for a limb of a head. He needed every piece of his target, he hacked at them like an animal and let out a blood curdling roar.

Soon he was on top of a pile of bodies, some were soldiers, and others were scientists. He ran outside, the cold air did nothing to alter his berserker fury. Part of him heard the sounds of a chopper retreating from the area, but the animal part was in charge. And the animal demanded blood, running at the troops blocking his way. Blood stained his body as he sliced through the chests of the armed men. Their blood and organs leaked onto the ground and Logan, no the Weapon that they had created jumped on one of the commanders.

"GET THIS FUCKING ANIMAL OFF ME!" The commander yelled, stabbing his knife into Logan's neck.

But the knife did nothing and the bullets slamming against Weapon X's back were but flies. He slashed open the commander's chest, and then he moved onto the next man in his way, slicing his skull open. Logan yelled, his roar echoing through the grounds and through the ruined corridors of the facility. He slashed open the door in his way and ran through the woods, grunting and growling as he crawled underneath and jumped over trees. Blood dripped onto the snow as Logan moved naked through entire blizzards. Eventually his body gave way and the animal inside him quivered. Gone was the rage as he curled into a ball, rubbing his arms and back. Soon the snow covered his entire body and the rage faded till morning.

The rage returned when the sun had fully risen. Logan burst out of the snow, the sun shining in his eyes. The blood across his body had gone black and despite the cold his healing factor had prevented the diseases any normal man would have gone through. He walked across the snow, having no frostbite and he sniffed for his food, his sinuses clear and his senses as advanced as a wolf's. He growled as he saw a bear off in the distance. With a roar he ran towards the giant creature and jumped into a battle that was one sided. The bear though powerful was no match for the ultimate weapon controlled by the most ferocious animal.

Over the course of a year, Logan was but an animal, living off of prey, even travelling with a pack of wolves. But gradually the man took over and came to the surface when he saw his own kind. Men with guns, rounding up scientists of some kind. Logan crept through the bushes, growling as he saw the guns. They were rounding people up like animals, not only did it bring the animal rage but it also angered the man. Logan roared as he ran out of the bushes and leapt towards the gunmen. With blood and guts staining his body, Logan caught the attention of Department H and S.H.I.E.L.D, both agencies hunted for him over the course of several years, eventually Logan was caught by a S.H.I.E.L.D agent but handed over to Department H. They offered to help him, but they did little to help him recover his past. Xavier delivered on his promises and gave Logan a cause worth fighting for. And in turn, Logan found people worth calling friends.

Alexis was one of those friends and she always made Logan happy whenever she smiled. Logan walked back to the mansion after a mission, seeing Alexis kneeling by a tree. She smiled as Logan walked towards her, dumping his bag on the ground as he sat beside her. He reached for one of his cigars, holding it out for Alexis. With a click of her fingers, she set the tip of the cigar alight.

"Thanks Alexis, so what's up today?" Logan asked.

"I got fired from my job" Alexis said.

"What, what for?"

"The boss found out that I was a mutant, said he couldn't risk my powers getting out of control"

"That's bullshit, I'll have a talk with him!" Logan growled.

"No Logan don't bother, I didn't like it there anyway…I feel like I'm made for something better, sometimes I dream of being something better than this" Alexis said.

"Something like an X-man?" Logan asked.

"No and it's X-women, I think I can become something better than a hero, I keep having these recurring dreams about a knight coming to save me, eventually loving me" Alexis explained.

"Have you talked to the professor?"

"No, I know that these dreams may never come true, that's why I'm going to stand strong and find someone I can love and something I can fight for, maybe it's Xavier's dream or maybe its my own dream, but whatever it is I'll choose to fight for it'll be worth fighting for, worth living for" Alexis explained, smiling as she got up off the grass. "So Logan you really don't need to worry about me"

That was the last time she and Logan spoke, the last time Logan saw her smile. In the present, Logan sighed, walking back to the pilot seat. He looked over his shoulder at Karl, not hiding the rage in his eyes and voice.

"You pay for her death Karl, you find out who did this to you and you make them pay" He said.

Karl looked at his hands, hands that had been stained with the blood of innocent mutants. Then he looked at Logan and nodded, he had committed a terrible crime and he needed to pay the price, by being of use to the X-men. Logan deactivated the autopilot and took control of the jet again. Xavier sighed as he leant back into his seat. No one spoke, Emma didn't even comment on what had happened. It was an awkward and silent flight back to the mansion. Eventually the silence passed as they reached the mansion and panic spread across Xavier's face. The jet flew through a hanger bay built into the sea side rock that the mansion had been set on. Waiting at the hanger was Jean and Forge, the latter of which was making adjustments to some kind of high tech gun. Jean flew off the ground, closing her eyes as she moved her astral self into the jet.

"Professor something terrible has happened with Scott's team" Jean's telepathic cry echoed in the minds of Beast, Xavier and Logan.

"Jean please calm down" Xavier said.

"No, I wont, Scott's and Warren are wounded and the others have been taken"

"Taken, by who?" Logan asked.

Karl looked at the mutants in confusion, his mind was keeping Jean out so he couldnt see her astral form. Jean closed her eyes, showing images in the medical quarters. Scott was laid out on a bed with his eyes closed and a heart monitor at his side. Warren had his shirt off and was getting bandages wrapped around his chest by Sage. Bobby and Morph were waiting outside, waiting for news on their friends.

"Oh no!" Xavier said

"They've been taken" Said Jean.

"Jean get the students we discussed earlier together, regretably we must begin project New X-men early"

Next Chapter 14: Kidnapping and rescue


Hope everyone enjoyed the rewrite, next chapter we'll see some more drama and the promotion of a few students to X-men