The Ripple in Man and Mutantkind

by Mistercraycray95

It was a normal school day at Bayvile High School for David Ripley, or as normal as it could be for an abused gay kid, until he finds out he's a mutant, which is more scarier than finding out you're gay, but joining the X-Men makes it all worth it. Rated M for language, violence, and brief sexual content.

37. Chapter 37

X-Men Evolution: The Ripple in Man and Mutantkind

Chapter 37: Grim Reminder

A couple of days after what went down with Mystique and learning of her connection to Kurt, a sort of depressed vibe went throughout the house. Everyone wanted to comfort Kurt, but we weren't sure if it was the appropriate thing to do. We knew that we shouldn't apologize for what or who brought us into the world, and apologizing to Kurt about it seemed like a bad idea. But everyone still hung around him, as well each other until the stage of depression finally died down and things went back to normal, or as normal as they could be. Kurt was still a bit sensitive about when it came to the subject of his mother, but he soon went back to the goofball everyone knew and loved. After he perked back up, everyone seemed to perk up as well with him. All of the younger X-Men began to spend more and more time together, and soon we were all waking up at the same time in the mornings, sharing the same schedule, and just enjoying the ever loving hell out of each other. However, when we wanted to be alone for a while, it was difficult to do so without someone entering the room and showering you with undivided attention. And honestly, after a while, the constant camaraderie was beginning to annoy me. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends all to pieces, but I deliriously needed a few minutes from them. So one morning, about an hour before everyone else were awake and getting ready for school upstairs, I quickly brushed my hair to be presentable for the morning before teleporting right to the kitchen for breakfast. However, instead of the usual bowl of cereal or catered breakfasts, courtesy of the chefs working for a company Xavier funded, I decided to try my own hand at an omelette du fromage. After all, how hard could it have been to cook eggs? I got myself a mixing bowl, grabbed a few eggs, some mozzarella and cheddar, and a few pinches of salt and pepper, and placed all of the ingredients inside the bowl before mixing with a whisk. After I properly beat everything together, I poured the mixture onto a sprayed nonstick pan, popped a couple pieces of bread in the toaster, and watched on as the omelet began to take solid shape. Suddenly, from behind me I heard the kitchen door open. I turned around and saw that Logan had entered the breakfast room with a newspaper.

"Morning, Logan." I said. Logan looked up at me with a surprised brow.

"Mornin', Rip." He said, walking over to the coffee maker.

"Would you like an omelet? I still have a few more fixings."

"Nah. I'm just sticking to coffee for now."

"Suit yourself." I flipped one side of the omelet over and saw that the underside was nice and golden. Exactly how I like it. I looked back at Logan and felt kind of awkward being in a room with him without engaging in conversation. "Hey, do you know when Ororo should be getting back from her sister's? It's been kind of weird without her here."

"She'll be back when her sister feels better, Rip. It's not easy to find someone to take care of someone when their husbands and kids have school and work."

"Hmm." I flipped the omelet to its other side and let it cook for a few moments before placing it on a plate, grabbing the freshly popped toast, and headed to the nearest seat. Logan already had his coffee in his hand.

"How are you doing?" I asked, sitting down. "I feel like I haven't seen much of you lately, Logan."

"I kinda often prefer it that way sometimes, Rip." Logan replied, sipping his coffee. "You know that."

"I know, but you seem to be out and about a lot more. Is this because of what happened with Kurt and Mystique?" Logan stared at me with a raised brow.

"Quit tryin' to be so insightful, Rip. You don't know what you're talkin' about." He said. I held up my hands, defensively.

"Okay, okay." I said.

"Jeez." I thought as I cut a bite from my omelet and stuck it in my mouth. I've thought that there was absolutely nothing to making an omelet, and I was right because the one I made tasted fantastic.

"You sure you don't want one of these? Because this is amazing." I asked. Logan simply ignored me and stared right into his paper with his cup of coffee in hand. "O...kay then." I continued to eat my breakfast before the door opened. I looked over and saw Kitty walking in with her laptop.

"Hey, Kitty." I said, making her flinch in response.

"Oh. Hey, Ripley." She said.

"I'm sorry, Kat. I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, it's fine. I just, like, hoped that I would find a quiet place to write though."

"I can be quiet. We're not really doing much besides eating and reading. I'll be out of your hair soon if you want me gone."

"Oh, no. You can, like, stay as long as you need to." Kitty sat down in the seat right next to me and began typing up something on her laptop.

"Could I ask what you're writing?" I asked.

"Letter to my folks." She replied.

"Cool." After a while of silence, I had finished my breakfast and had begun washing my dishes when Kitty stretched in her seat before staring off at the window and Logan. Logan looked back at her with a raised brow and noticed that she was staring.

"What's the matter, Half-pint? Am I reading too loud for ya?" He asked.

"No, it's just nice to enjoy some peace and quiet around here without..." Suddenly, the rest of the X-Men barged right into the kitchen and began to crowd around the breakfast table and counters to get plates and silverware to begin eating. "That." Scott turned on the TV as everyone gorged themselves on scrambled eggs and breakfast pastries and moved back and forth between the walls of the kitchen, and as the TV blared, Logan grew a curious expression on his face. He turned up the volume so he could hear over the others.

"...Canadian Wilderness." The newsman said on the TV. I looked at the television and images of smashed vehicles and police tape littered roads were displayed. "For now, it is currently unknown as to what caused all of this destruction, and local residents of Mount McKenna are advised to stay in and lock all doors."

"Mount McKenna?" Logan muttered before rushing out of the kitchen, holding his head.

"Logan? Are you okay?" Scott said. I raised a brow as I dried the dish and placed it back in the cabinet.

"That's exactly what I'd like to know." I thought as I dried my hands.

"Excuse me." I said to the others, and not a moment too soon, because right as I left, Evan threw a muffin at Kurt's head, compelling him to throw the banana he was holding. I felt bad for leaving Kitty in the midst of the ensuing food battle, but she can be intangible whenever she wanted, so I didn't feel that guilty. As I left the dining room, I levitated from the floor and quietly followed Logan right to his room as he stumbled right in and shut the door. I landed firmly on the floor and just about knocked on the door when...

"Hey, Ripley." I looked behind me and saw Kitty walking right up to me. "Like, thanks for leaving me alone back there."

"Sshh." I hissed.

"What?" Kitty whispered.

"Logan has been acting weird all morning. I need to see if everything's all right." I leaned in towards Logan's door, and heard nothing but some small growling noises on the other side. "And besides, you were the one who wanted to be alone this morning." I leaned in closer towards the door and heard a violent crashing noise followed by a loud roar from Logan. It sounded like he was being tortured.

"Mr. Logan?" Kitty said, walking right behind me. I placed a closed hand against the door, and just about knocked if Logan's claws hadn't sliced through the door, making me jump back with a yelp. As I struggled to catch my breath, Kitty grabbed my arm and rubbed my shoulder to try and calm me down. Logan opened his door, groaning with a hand rubbing his forehead.

"Hi." Kitty said. "Sorry, we, uh..." We both looked into his room and saw that nearly everything was shredded to pieces. Kitty looked at Logan with a look of concern. "Are you okay?" Logan slid his hand down his face and grunted.

"Yeah." He said, closing the door. "Just...redecorating." Logan walked away from us, leaving me still trying hard to find my breath.

"Are you okay?" Kitty asked me.

"Yeah, I'm just really, really grateful for my fingers right now." I replied, slowly walking away from her.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to curl up in bed for a few minutes and thank God for phalanges." I vanished from the halls and as soon as I found myself in my room, I crawled in underneath my bedsheets before putting myself into a fetal position. I grasped both of my hands and held them close to my lips, kissing them and nearly weeping.

Later

A little while after what happened during breakfast hours, I had gotten showered, brushed, and dressed in a red shirt, a grey sweater, and black jeans; all of this done with an atlas floating close by. I had grown curious about this Mount McKenna, and found that it was a mountain range deep in the Canadian wilderness, a fitting place for Logan. However, therein held the nearly fearful irony. It was the perfect place for him, lots of trees, a dirt road, plenty of open space, but why it triggered him so made me worry. Not just for me or the others, but mostly for him. During the last few minutes I had before I had to leave for school, I had gotten back to keeping a close watch on Logan. From a safe distance do I wouldn't get anything spontaneously amputated. When I left my room, I saw that Logan was walking down the hallways, and presumably headed in direction of the courtyard for a breath of fresh air. I went right back through my bedroom, dropped my backpack on my bed, and flew out my balcony. I floated slightly above the house, looking everywhere for Logan when I saw him pacing back and forth on the patio in the back. I crept along the roof before peaking my head over the side of the roof. I looked further down and saw that Xavier was rolling towards him, which told me that if he were getting involved, things couldn't have been good. Whatever happened at Mount McKenna, it may have brought on something horrible that I hoped wouldn't have been fatal to others besides him.

"What happened to you, Logan?" I thought. I narrowed my eyes and as they began to glow, I concentrated on the two men with my telepathy to pick up on their conversation from the distance.

"Something about that news story set me off. I dunno why." Logan said.

"Well, let's talk about it." Xavier said, pointing towards a bench. "Please sit." Logan walked to the bench and sat down before he leaned forward to make himself comfortable.

"Charles, there's somethin' buried in my head, and it's driving me crazy." Logan rubbed his head from the residual pain. "So how about you dig in there and pry it out?"

"Alright, but first you need to relax." Logan chuckled as he held his head.

"Yeah, easy for you to say." Xavier placed a hand upon Logan's head and right as he did, the very same savage pain that made the feral mutant go mad swept through his mind, as well as my own, along with images of a dark man from behind a large tube full of bubbling fluid and tubes pumping flaming hot pain into his body. Logan and Xavier shouted in pain as we were released from the dreadful imagery. I found myself almost dizzy from the pain and trembled from the images I saw.

"Tell me that was a dream or somethin'." Logan panted.

"No, a memory. Long forgotten. Or rather suppressed." Xavier replied. "I believe that this memory was about how you acquired your unusual implements. Do you wish to continue?"

"Yeah. Go for it." Xavier placed a hand on Logan's head again and began to dig deeper into the memory. Images flashed around my mind at random, but the clearest image that came through the swamp of Logan's scattered memory, was one that showed him naked and being chased by a rabid creature through the snowy Mount McKinney. Logan shouted out in pain as Xavier exit his mind. Both men panted, exhausted and disoriented. The splash back images had also hit me pretty hard, even when I wasn't using my telepathy to its fullest.

"Are you all right?" Xavier asked. Logan's eyes widened in surprise and recognition as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"What happened to me, it all started there with that ghoul in the black coat." Logan said, unsheathing his claws. "He's the one who did this to me." Xavier and I widened his eyes in shock as Logan stood up from the bench and walked back towards the house. "I gotta go." Xavier grabbed Logan's arm, stopping him from going any further.

"You're going to that mountain range, aren't you?" Xavier asked. "The one you saw on TV, and the one from your nightmares." Logan sneered at Xavier before wrenching his arm from his grip.

"You pick that up when you probed my mind?" Logan continued onward as Xavier followed close by.

"Would you like some company?" He asked. Logan looked back and smirked at the professor with a sniff.

"Do I ever?" He replied. I shrunk backwards before turning over and coming to what most would call a rash decision.

"Okay, fuck school for today." I thought. I rushed right back to my room and stripped my clothes from my body before dressing myself in my uniform. I knew that I had to go to school, and kind of following the example of the Brotherhood Boys gave me a bad taste in my mouth, but I just couldn't leave a friend to face God knows what by himself no matter how proud, or how brave and/or stupid he was. After giving myself a quick inspection of my uniform and my utilities, I teleported down to the hangar. I knew that if Logan were about to head out to Canada, he would've taken the quickest possible way of getting there. But he wouldn't be alone, or at least to his knowledge until we reached the mountains and explored a little if he didn't get into trouble during that time. I ran right to the Blackbird and teleported to the inside of the cockpit. I walked down the isles to the back compartment and opened the door before walking in and shutting myself in. Now, all I had to do was wait for Logan to start it up, and hopefully not have a reason to come in to the back of the jet. I sat and waited for only a few minutes before all of a sudden, Kitty's head came up between my legs.

"Whoa!" I shouted. Kitty suddenly turned around and screamed her head off as I fell down to the floor.

"God, Ripley. Like, what the hell?" She said as she rose up above the floor.

"I could ask the very same thing, Kat. You scared me half to death." After we both caught our breath and stood up, Kitty looked at me with a raised curious brow.

"What are you even doing in here? In your uniform?" She asked. I nearly squirmed. I hadn't expected to be caught by anyone else other than Logan, and I couldn't explain what I was doing here to anyone else. I didn't want anyone to worry about me or wonder where I was headed, so I had to make something up, and quick. Logan would've been along soon.

"Well, um, I put my uniform on, and I almost got my clothes over it in case I needed it immediately, when I realized that I might've dropped a couple cute buttons the last time I was in here." I said.

"What do they look like?" Kitty asked.

"A black and red broken heart and a button with a quote from the Lion King."

"Okay, but let's hurry. We need to get to school pretty soon."

"No, it's okay. I'll look myself. I can fly myself to school without getting seen, and I wouldn't want you to be late."

"Like, it's no problem. Let's just hurry." I groaned to myself in my mind. For another couple of minutes, we looked around the back of the plane for nothing until a sudden burst of brimstone filled our nostrils, making us both cough as Kurt appeared into the plane.

"There you guys are." Kurt said. "Come on, we're gonna be late. Scott said he'd give us a ride to school today." Suddenly the plane started up and quickly jumped forward, making the three of us trip and fall over each other. It would seem that my assumption was correct after all, if it were Logan who was hopefully piloting.

"Who's piloting the plane?" Kitty asked. I shifted my position a bit before I felt something familiar in a very weird place.

"More important question: whose hand is that?" I asked looking down at my pants to see a blue three fingered hand on my junk.

"Yikes!" Kurt yelled, removing his hand immediately as we all got up and rubbing it on his pants. "Sorry, man!"

"It's chill. Though I expect you to buy me dinner sometime soon." Kurt blushed what looked a shade of purple before he walked over to the door to see who was piloting the plane. He pressed a button, opening the door, and sure enough, there was Logan, as I suspected with his uniform on and his cowl down.

"It's Logan." Kurt said, moving a bit forward to talk to him. Kitty and I grabbed one of his shoulders and held him back. "Vas?"

"I wouldn't if we were you." I whispered. "He's been acting really weird this morning."

"Yeah, like, super scary weird." Kitty concurred. Kurt scoffed before shoving our hands from his shoulders.

"Aw, don't be so dramatic, you guys."

"Ripley." Kitty whispered, telling me to do something. I placed a hand under my chin and began thinking before coming to a consensus.

"You know, maybe Kurt's right." I replied.

"Are you out of your mind? Like, do you not remember that he nearly amputated your hand?" I swallowed nervously as the very recent memory came back to me.

"Let's just see how he reacts to a few unexpected passengers before we start jumping to conclusions." Kitty silently scoffed and looked at me with a raised brow, making me place a hand in her shoulder. "He'll be fine. Logan would demolish a room, but he wouldn't hurt us. Never." I looked to Kurt and nodded at him, compelling him to walk straight to Logan in the pilot's seat.

"Hey, man. Vhat's up?" Kurt said, placing a hand on Logan's shoulder. Logan growled loudly and clenched his fists, beckoning his claws to emerge as he narrowly missed a direct hit at Kurt's neck. Kitty and I grasped each other's hands and gasped in surprise. Logan had nearly killed Kurt just then. It would seem that my optimistic judgement hadn't been as trusting as I had thought. Logan sheathed his claws before placing a still clenched hand on a shaken Kurt's shoulder. "Oh, I'm sorry. Is this seat taken? My bad." Kurt quickly teleported back to where we were and hid behind me.

"Still think we're being dramatic?" Kitty asked. Kurt took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before standing up straight.

"Actually, no I don't." He replied as we all took a step backwards as Logan stirred in his seat.

"Engage...autopilot." Logan said wearily to the computer as he stood before advancing towards us. I took the front and pushed Kitty back behind me with Kurt. If Logan were about to attack us, I wanted to make sure he got a really good piece of me first. I didn't want to hurt him, but I would if he tried anything. As he neared the three of us, Logan held his head and glared angrily at us from between his clenched fingers.

"Why..." He growled. "Why are you kids following me?"

"We're not following you." Kitty said. "We were just..." Logan growled loudly and unsheathed his claws, compelling Kurt to teleport us back a few feet towards the back compartment.

"Now you made him angry." He said. Logan growled and stumbled against the hull of the ship.

"I've gotta get you three back before I..." He crashed down to the floor, still clutching his head. "You've gotta get away from me. There's somethin' in my head. I can't control it!" Logan looked up at us, and near all color had been stripped from his face. He was genuinely frightened. I never thought at any time in life I would've ever seen him like that, until that day. Whatever was going on with him, it wasn't at all his fault. This wasn't just him. Concerned for Logan more than myself, I took a brave chance and took a few steps forward.

"Ripley." Kitty and Kurt said. I held up a hand, telling them to stand their ground, and looked back at them to give a small reassuring smile before walking right up to a distressed Logan.

"Logan, what's wrong?" I asked, placing a hand upon his arm. "Talk to me."

"Get back!" Logan shouted, pushing me to the floor. I looked up at him and gasped as he loomed right over me with frightened eyes. "Can't be controlled. Can't be trusted." Logan suddenly punched an emergency button above the doorway. A whirring noise came and from the floor, and the back door came up. As it closed, Logan's claws sliced right through its center before sheathing right back. Kitty walked up to me and helped me off of my back.

"Are you okay?" Kitty asked.

"Yeah, I-I'm just fine." I said as she helped me stand up. "But I don't think he's fine, and he knows it well enough." Kitty pushed a button to try and open the door, but it wouldn't even budge.

"He locked us out." Kurt said.

"No, he shut himself in so that we'd be safe." Kitty said.

"There is a crazy person flying the plane! You call that safe?! We have to get out of here!" Kitty cupped her chin and began thinking.

"Can you transport us to the ground?" She asked Kurt.

"Uh, yeah, right. But picture this for a second." Kurt said, holding up both of his hands and bounding one closer to the other. "Bumpity, bumpity, bumpity, splat!" He slammed both fists together, making Kitty and I cringe. "Too high up and going way too fast."

"What about you, Ripley? You can fly."

"I think we'd come upon a similar problem." I replied. "I've never really reached mach speeds of this velocity before, and I don't know if I can or not myself without breaking anything in my body. Or in others." Kurt placed a hand upon his head and sighed.

"Then I guess we're stuck on this flight." Kitty said. "Question is where are we going?"

"It could be vhere that news bulletin vas about that got him so vorked up." Kurt suggested. Suddenly, the jet began to lag in speed and gravity shifted around the three of us, making us nearly stumble over each other again.

"It looks like we're going to find out really soon." I said. When we touched down at Logan's final destination, we heard him take a few steps around the cockpit before we heard the door open and footsteps marching out into what sounded like snow before the door shut again.

"Snow in the middle of March?" I thought. "We must definitely be in Canada."

"We need to call the professor. We need to tell him where we are." Kitty said. We all began rummaging through all of the cabinets and chests to find a radio or something so that we could establish contact with the institute. After finding nothing but a few coats, emergency blankets, and a few pounds of empty space, I was beginning to lose patience. Logan could've been miles away by now, and I didn't want him by himself at all at this point.

"That's it. I can't stay in here anymore." I said, standing straight. "Suit up, both of you." Kitty and Kurt looked at me with raised brows.

"Vas?" Kurt said.

"Ripley, I can't..."

"Logan's out in the wilderness by himself with something messing up his brain. We can't leave him out here if this place is setting him off. He could seriously hurt himself or others without help."

"I know, but, like, I can't get dressed in front of two guys." Kitty said, blushing. Kurt and I both blushed as well before I transported us both to the next compartment so Kurt could get dressed.

A Few Short Minutes Later

After the others got into their uniforms, Shadowcat phased out of the jet just to see the vague silhouette of Wolverine walking into the mountain range dead ahead. As she scoped the area, Nightcrawler and I had tried to get in contact with the institute, but something was blocking the signal. Possibly because we were deep in a mountain forest, but I had suspected something else was creating the interference. After a couple more attempts at trying to establish contact, Nightcrawler and I decided to cut our losses and teleported out to where Shadowcat was waiting.

"Did you get into the cockpit's radio?" She asked.

"Yeah, but something out here is interfering with our signals, so we couldn't reach the institute." Nightcrawler replied. Shadowcat sighed and facepalmed.

"Great. Then it looks like we're on our own." I knelt down and saw that Wolverine had left behind footprints as he walked onward.

"Come on." I said, taking the lead. "We'll fly back to the institute when we have Logan with us."

Meanwhile

A bit further ahead from where the Blackbird had landed, Wolverine continued forward to wherever felt more familiar to him, although doing so caused what was making his head pound harder, and his ears ring louder. As he walked a few more steps, he could feel a strange feeling that he was being watched, and indeed he was. In various trees and cracks in the mountain were various sensors that could detect motion, and cameras that were linked to a fortress deep in the heart of the mountain. In its heart, was the eery little ghoul wearing a long black coat.

"Excellent." He said. "The chip in his brain is still working after all of these long years as expected." The doctor chuckled darkly to himself before leaning forward in his chair. "I did such good work in those days, and yet he still had the willpower to suppress it."

"Until now." A voice said from out of the dark. "But why?"

"Oh, I suppose he just got too comfortable with Xavier and let his guard down. The news coverage did the rest for us." The old man turned around in his chair to look upon his companion. "Interesting, isn't it, Bigfoot?" From the shadows, a tall, dirty, dirty blonde man with animalistic features walked into the light.

"I told you not to call me that." Sabertooth growled.

"Very well." The Doctor said. "Tell you what, Sabertooth, why don't you go out and greet our old colleague?" Sabertooth roared loudly in compliance before rushing towards the nearest exit. The Doctor smirked as he left. He knew that Sabertooth wasn't exactly trustworthy, but at least the both of them shared a common interest where they could easily cooperate, almost as well as they did many years ago. The Doctor placed his hand upon a red nozzle and turned it sharply to the right. On the monitors that managed the chip in Wolverine's brain, a meter began to fill, while also making a loud noise telling the user that it was working perfectly. Outside, Wolverine walked onward before the pain entered his head again, this time worse than the other times it flared up. He growled in annoyance before a sudden familiar scent caught his attention. As he looked up, he was knocked down by a roaring blur, and as he got up, he looked upon his assailant.

"Wolverine." Sabertooth grunted. Wolverine stood up and growled.

"Sabertooth." He said. "I thought something smelled about this forest." Sabertooth lunged at Wolverine and struck at him with his claws, but Wolverine jumped high in the air and flipped back onto a large rock. He growled loudly before charging at him, knocking the larger opponent on his back and nearly bashing the back of his head on the ground. Sabertooth kicked Wolverine off of himself, but his leg slammed down to the ground like it lost all connectivity to the rest of his body. His healing factor was working fast to repair his head injury, but he was still too dazed to move. Wolverine decided to take advantage of his weakened state and loomed over him with a snarl.

"Alright, fuzzy. I've been patient, but now I want some answers." Wolverine said, readying his claws above Sabertooth's head.

"You'll get your answers, Logan." He looked to where the voice came from and saw the ghoulish figure from his memories staring at him with a dark smile and a remote control in hand. "Although, you'll wish you didn't." He twisted a knob on the control, making Wolverine grab his head and nearly shrill with brutal agony as he lowered down to the ground. From behind him, Sabertooth grasped both of his fists together before slamming them down upon his rival's head, knocking him out. He smirked at his fallen foe with a toothy grin.

"Welcome home." He said.

Later (Outside)

We continued walking onward, following the trail of footprints Wolverine left for us for what seemed like a few hours, but I continued to glance down at my watch and saw that only a few minutes passed from the last time I checked. I was obviously getting anxious and worried, and the others could see that I was under duress.

"Maybe we could fly out further away from this mountain and try to call the institute from a better location." Nightcrawler suggested.

"No." I said. "We're here now, we're nearly prepared for nearly anything. We're continuing on."

"And that's the thing, man. We don't know vhat to expect all the way out here."

"I don't care. We're not going anywhere else without Logan, and that's final." Shadowcat raised a brow before catching up with me as we walked on.

"Why are you so fixated on Mr. Logan today?" She asked.

"Because I know what it's like to not know myself as well as I thought I did." I replied. "And Logan knows what it's like more than everyone at the institute put together. Every day, every time we train, we learn more about ourselves, but Logan can't even remember enough of anything to know himself, or the things he's done." I stopped for a moment to look around for any viable signs of Wolverine anywhere and saw nothing but his prints going on into the mountain. I sighed before we walked onward. "But now, it looks like a part of his past has come up to hurt him. Just like before."

"What do you mean?" Shadowcat asked.

"Something out here, I don't know what exactly, is the very, very probable reason why he has claws and a skeleton made of indestructible metal." My friends suddenly stopped, compelling me to stop walking as well to look back at them. They both had utter shock written across their faces.

"Are you serious?" Nightcrawler asked.

"Completely." I replied. The fuzzy elf sighed before rubbing the back of his neck.

"Man."

"I know." Shadowcat scoffed before she walked up to me with a scowl and punched my shoulder really hard.

"Hey!" I yelled before rubbing my arm to relieve the pain. "What the hell?"

"You weren't in the jet looking for shit, you liar!" She said. "You were, like, looking for a place to stow away with Logan, weren't you?" I sighed and shrugged my shoulders.

"Okay, yes." I said, putting my hands up. "You caught me." Shadowcat scowled at me.

"Okay, that is so not cool."

"Seriously, man. Haven't ve done enough crazy stuff already?" Nightcrawler said.

"I didn't mean for you guys involved, honestly. And I am so sorry for lying, but I knew if I told you anything, you'd try to stop me. I couldn't let Logan go off by himself and right back to something so traumatizing by himself again. I had to do something."

"Ripley, he's..." Nightcrawler said.

"My friend." I interjected. "I'm not scared of what's out here. I can defend against everything that could come our way. I can save him."

"Rip." I rushed in front of Nightcrawler and poked his chest, making him gasp in surprise.

"Listen. I promised myself that I would never lose another person again for as long as I lived. I will make damn sure to keep that promise, with or without you. You understand?" I turned around and continued on for a few steps before stopping and sighing. I hated being so upfront like that. I hated yelling at my friends when it wasn't at all necessary. Shadowcat sighed once before she walked up to me and wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

"Okay." She said. "We're with you. Let's just find Mr. Logan and get back ASAP." I grabbed her hands and nodded before we let go of each other, with Shadowcat taking lead and Nightcrawler following behind her.

"Kurt?" I said, grabbing his shoulder and looking at him with a sorrowful expression on my face. "I..." He held up a hand, compelling me to stop talking.

"It's fine, man. I get it." Nightcrawler replied with a smile. I smiled back at him before we continued down the mountain path where Wolverine's footprints were leading. Soon, we came across a small gorge with a waterfall surrounded by an ominous mist and dark looking rocks and trees. We followed Logan's footprints to a point that I didn't understand. They seemed to just stop right at the center of the gorge.

"His trail ends here." I said, bending down to see if there were any tracks that we may possibly have missed, but none were present. "Weird."

"Yeah, and totally kinda creepy." Shadowcat said.

"Yeah. I'm kind of feeling the creeps myself." Nightcrawler said. We all looked around for a moment before I looked up and saw a familiar silhouette perched upon a rock in the mist.

"Look!" I said. "There he is!"

"Cool." Shadowcat said before waving her arms. "Mr. Logan! Down here!"

"Hey, man!" Nightcrawler called out. Wolverine looked at the both of us and took a couple steps forward before an ominous shadow crept up behind him through the mist. It looked like the shadow of a man.

"Who's..." I said before I widened my eyes in terror and surprise. From the mist, came the larger man we've come to know as Sabertooth.

"Oh, man. He's got a friend." Nightcrawler said.

"Sabertooth?!" I said, flabbergasted out of my mind.

"But they're supposed to be, like, mortal enemies." Shadowcat said, backing up. The two feral men both leapt from perch point to perch point in unison before charging at us.

"Yeah. Ours!" Nightcrawler said as Wolverine and Sabertooth closed in.

"Grab on!" I shouted, extending both hands. Shadowcat and Nightcrawler's hands grasped mine before I began flying us a few feet in the air. The two wildmen bounded after us and just about grabbed us if Shadowcat didn't use her powers. Maneuvering through the air, I dove into the nearest thicket so we could lose the men. I would've gone further up into the air and lost them in the sky, but the air was too cold in the higher altitudes, and I didn't know how it would've affected my flames. As we rushed through the woods, I maneuvered the best I could through the brush, but there were so many pine trees filled with fresh needles that I couldn't get higher than the lowest branches without giving myself undesired acupuncture or nearly scraping up my passengers.

"Faster, Ripley! They're gaining on us!" Nightcrawler yelled as the two feral mutants closed in faster and faster. I looked behind us and saw that Wolverine and Sabertooth were indeed advancing closer to us.

"You are not helping." I said in a panicked sing-song voice. Suddenly, Sabertooth jumped on top of me from above, causing me to lose grip of my friends. As the four of us crashed to the ground, Sabertooth tried to clear my arms from my face to get in a good shot at me. The others looked on from the ground in horror.

"Ripley!" They yelled, running towards me.

"Run!" I shouted. They both flinched at first, but then I heard Wolverine advancing closer and closer to us with every step. "Run, damn it! Now!" Shadowcat and Nightcrawler both ran off in two different directions, with Wolverine chasing down Kitty. I struggled to get up, but Sabertooth wouldn't relent, and had me caught in his grip so tightly that I couldn't move without him following beside me.

"Get the fuck off of me!" I shouted.

"Why?" Sabertooth replied. "I would've figured this would be where you wanted me to be, Ripley." He held his claws directly above my face. "Now hold still so I can give you a nice little makeover." I cleared my throat and spat at his face, making him growl. He wiped the spittle from his face before looking at me with a sneer and a raised brow. "Now you're just being rude." While he was momentarily distracted, I extended my leg forwards and right as he was about to strike me, I aimed my knee at just the right spot and bent it sharply, sticking Sabertooth directly in the crotch. He stood up from me, growling in a higher pitch with his hands grasping his junk, leaving him vulnerable to a swift kick in the face, sending him flying into a tree. I looked at him and huffed with a victorious smirk as he blacked out.

"How's that for rude, Candypants?" I said. I turned around and headed in the same direction where Wolverine was tracking down Shadowcat and Nightcrawler. I ran a few steps through the woods before I flew over the thickets and looked around for any signs of my friends. I searched frantically for any signs of my fellow X-Men when suddenly, a loud roar went through the air followed by a scream that I could only recognize as Kitty's. I quickly scanned the area before I caught a mental signal from someone in great distress, two someones practically glowing with distress, and one eclipsing the other with pure rage. I charged with almost all of my speed in the direction of the emotional disturbance, right as Wolverine was about to charge into Shadowcat with his claws.

"No!" I shouted before swiping him away from her, knocking him down into the snow. Shadowcat turned around and gasped when she saw me tackle him.

"Ripley!" She yelled.

"Don't stop running, Kitty!" I shouted, holding Wolverine's arms behind his head.

"But what about you?!" She yelled. I struggled to keep Logan down, but he was beginning to slip from my grip.

"Forget about me, and just go! Find Kurt!" She nodded before she took off running into the mountains where Nightcrawler would be. As I struggled to keep Wolverine down, I concentrated on trying to pick up Nightcrawler's mind, which wasn't really difficult considering how I could sense how freaked he was.

"Nightcrawler, where are you, man?" I said, telepathically.

"How should I know?! Sabertooth's on my tail!" He replied, frantically.

"Damn, he recovers quickly. Try to lose him and rendezvous with Shadowcat. I'll join you guys ASAP."

"Hurry, man!" I nodded before looking down at Wolverine as he began to overpower me.

"Logan, please. I don't want to fight you." I said. Wolverine growled before he grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder. As I landed, I saw him racing towards me with a roar and his claws gleaming. "I told you, Mister!" My eyes glowed brightly as I pushed him down to the ground with a telekinetic shield. As I got up, he tried to get up as well, but he was still acting insane, so when he tried to stand, I tripped him up and held him down with a larger telekinetic shield twice his size.

"Don't fight me, Logan! Whatever's wrong with you, fight that instead!" I shouted at him. Wolverine struggled to defeat my telekinesis, but then when he looked up at me, I could've sworn I saw a hint of recognition.

"Ripley?" He said. I just about cried when he said my name. Whatever was making him act so crazy, and teaming up with Sabertooth of all people, I could see that he was fighting it off, but right on the brink of losing his mind completely. I had to get to work fast, and dig deep.

"That's it, focus on me." I said, walking closer to him as he roared loudly at me. "Remember me? David Allen Ripley, and you better not fucking forget it?" Wolverine growled loudly as he continued to struggle against me, making me wince. My catchphrase probably wasn't the best example of memory, telling me that I had to find something better. "Remember when we went out as a group with Kitty and Rogue at Six Flags? And when we left, you gave me the single prize bear you won because I didn't win a single game? You did that for me because we're friends, teammates, X-Men." Wolverine looked harder at me, telling me I was getting in deeper and I was pulling him free from his madness. But then, all of a sudden, he roared out loud and began fighting me again, more ferocious than before.

"Logan, please, this isn't who you are! Look at me!" I shouted. He continued to roar loudly and continued to push up from the ground, despite all of my willpower and telekinesis keeping him down. "Logan, please! It's me!" Wolverine growled loudly as he stood upon his feet and pushed upwards, blood leaking out from his nose and mine. The struggle was starting to become too much for the both of us to handle, only I was the one who was losing.

"Jesus, who is he? Fucking Superman?" I thought. Suddenly, my concentration began to break, and so did the telekinetic field I placed over Wolverine.

"Logan!" I groaned loudly as the field dropped. Holding my head and trying not to pass out, I slumped down to the ground, struggling to catch my breath. Stumbling forward, Wolverine advanced towards me, very and eerily slowly.

"Ripley..." He whispered, unsheathing his claws and readying them for a fatal strike. "I'm sorry." I quickly glanced up at him, my head setting itself ablaze. I aimed my hand at him and blasted him with a lethal barrage of telekinetic fields and flames that knocked him far away from me, but also made a few loud crackling noises that made my flames die down when my conscious mind awakened. I gasped in shock.

"Holy shit! Did I just kill him?!" I thought, loudly. I cautiously walked over to Wolverine, but remained vigilant so in case he attacked, I would be ready.

"Um...Wolverine?" I said, quietly. He didn't answer, which made me feel a mixture of relief, fear, and guilt. "Logan?" I reached a hand towards him and shivered as I just about touched his shoulder. Suddenly, as if in the speed of light, he grabbed my hand and pulled me in close to his face. He growled at me, and as I looked at his clenched teeth, I thought he was about to literally tear into my flesh like a wild animal. A few tears formed in my eyes as the fear began to creep over me.

"Logan, please." I whimpered. Wolverine pulled me in closer, making me close my eyes. His breath was hot, but it gave me a chill to the bone.

"Get...away!" He shouted, tossing me away from him and into a dying tree, shattering it on impact. I sighed deeply before falling into a deep black.

Elsewhere (Normal POV)

Nightcrawler had managed to escape from Sabertooth, and was now frantically searching for Shadowcat, so that the two of them could find Wolverine and Ripley and get back to the mansion ASAP. Only the problem was that Kurt didn't know where to find her or how, so he teleported from location to location to try and locate Shadowcat.

"Kitty?" Nightcrawler whispered loudly. "Kitty!"

"Meow." Nightcrawler looked up and gasped in shock as Sabertooth dropped down right over him from the trees. Nightcrawler quickly jumped away as Sabertooth just about squashed him, and ran for his life as the wild man continued to pursue him. Nightcrawler ran on for a few feet, but glanced behind for a moment to see Sabertooth catching up. Acting upon instinct, and ruthless thinking, the blue elf ran towards Sabertooth and lunged over him before bouncing off his back, and into the trees. He landed on a branch high above the ground and laughed for a few seconds, thinking that he was safe at last. At least until he looked down and saw Sabertooth climbing up the tree he was perched on.

"Oh, man." Nightcrawler said. "I totally forgot that cats can climb." Sabertooth bounced between trees in a random formation, like a pinball, before lunging directly at Nightcrawler, making him jump back as the feral man's claws sliced through the branch. Nightcrawler landed on the top branch of a different tree, but didn't have enough time to lounge when Sabertooth joined him in the treetop and sliced through it, making Nightcrawler jump off again, but there wasn't anything behind him to jump to. So now, he was in freefall, with Sabertooth and the segment of tree falling right over him. As Sabertooth fell closer to him, Nightcrawler smirked.

"Later, dude." He said, teleporting away as Sabertooth tried to grab him. Instead, he grabbed a whiff of brimstone, and a face full of cold, hard ground, and a back full of tree.

Elsewhere

Wolverine had caught up to the end of Shadwowcat's scent trail, but couldn't seem to find a physical trace of her anywhere. Her trail obviously brought her to a shallow cliff side with a river, travelling quickly far below. Suddenly, images of his younger friends flashed before his eyes, making him sheath his claws back into his hands.

"Ripley." He muttered, gripping his head. "Kurt." He groaned as the images of his fights and the chase nearly toppled him. "Kitty!" He let out a roar of anguish and grief for the students he thought were dead at his hands. He crouched down and groaned in defeat and loss. He let out one remorseful roar before his senses caught up with his emotions. His fingers twitched as he felt a familiar presence creep up on him. He growled loudly as he turned around, his claws ready to shred his prey when he suddenly stopped. Shadowcat stood in front of him, wet, cold and shaken, but thankfully alive. Wolverine growled loudly, readying to attack her again, making Shadowcat gasp in fear. Nightcrawler suddenly appeared behind her and grabbed her shoulder.

"We're popping outta here!" He said.

"No!" Shadowcat said. "I think I'm getting through to him." Quickly thinking, she walked closer to Wolverine and lifted his cowl from his face.

"No!" He yelled. Kitty held Logan's face in her hands and looked him in the eye.

"Logan, look at me." She said. "It's me, Kitty. Remember? Half-Pint?" Logan growled loudly, advancing in closer to Shadowcat. "Come on, please try. We had breakfast together just his morning, sort of, but look; whatever they did to you. You're fighting it, aren't you?" She dropped one hand from his face and grasped his hand tightly. "Keep on fighting. Don't let up, please." A tear fell from her eye as she looked up at the man's face. "Do you really wanna hurt me, Mr. Logan?" For a brief moment, Logan stood there, almost paralyzed with the pain going through his mind, when suddenly, all of it seemed to fade away almost instantaneously. He fell to the ground with a gentle grunt before Kitty sighed and wrapped her arms around him. Logan closed his eyes and smiled.

"Wrong move!" A voice called out. Shadowcat and Logan split for a moment before Sabertooth jumped them, grabbing at his former temporary ally and making them plunge into a more shallow part of the chasm. Logan landed on his back before he tossed Sabertooth off of him with a double legged kick over his head. He tumbled along a few times before Logan rushed behind him towards the mountain. Sabertooth roared and rushed on after him. From behind them, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler could only watch on as they raced into the distance.

"He's taking control!" Shadowcat said, gleefully.

"Yeah." Nightcrawler said. "But I think that's what Sabertooth wants." Shadowcat grabbed Nightcrawler's shoulders with a bold smile on her face.

"Not if we stop them." Kurt nodded before he widened his eyes in shock before looking around. "What's wrong?"

"Vhere's Ripley?" Shadowcat suddenly began to look around with the same frightened expression.

"Ripley?" She called. "Ripley!"

"Help…"

"Whoa!" Both X-Men yelled in surprise.

"Did you hear that?" Shadowcat asked.

"I sure did." Nightcrawler replied.

"Help me."

"That sounded a lot like…" Shadowcat gasped before looking at the mountain where Wolverine and Sabertoth were headed. "Oh my God."

"You took the vords right out of my mouth." Shadowcat latched onto Nightcralwer before the both of them vanished to their final destination. Further ahead, in the laboratory, the Doctor sat at his chair, impatiently surveying the fight outside when he lost Wolverine from his monitors.

"Sabertooth, where is Wolverine?!" He yelled.

"He's broken into the lab." Sabertooth said over the radio. The Doctor flinched in his chair as a strong twinge of fear struck his stomach.

"No! Get down here and protect me!" Before the Doctor could fear the worst any longer, a pair of adamantium claws pierced the thick iron door and began to eviscerate it with quick strokes. The Doctor looked at the door before waving his hand over the button that activated the chip in Wolverine's head. "Logan, do not make me do this! You're far too valuable!" Meanwhile, out in the halls behind the doors, Sabertooth dropped in and began to make his way for the main lab when the two younger X-Men appeared right in front of him, blocking his way.

"Get out of my way!" He roared, readying his claws for a fight. Shadowcat ran back to where she thought her friends were, but Nightcrawler stood his ground against Sabertooth to give her time to move.

"Touch me, and I'll drop you five miles into the woods." Nightcrawler said.

And his claws just about nicked the fuzzy elf when he stopped moving all of a sudden. Nightcrawler looked at the man with a raised brow before he caught a look of someone behind him. Someone who made him smile and sigh in relief.

"Ripley!"

(Ripley's POV)

When I woke up a few short minutes after my battle with Wolverine, I had gotten information from my friends' minds that told me that Logan had finally taken back control of his mind, and was leading Sabertooth on a chase towards the mountain. I kept my distance so that I wouldn't disrupt any plans he had, but when I peeked into Logan's mind, I found out about a laboratory stationed in the center of the mountain spire. The very same laboratory that injected the adamantium into his body and practically erased his history. I needed to get back up there, and fast, but I couldn't do it alone. I sent out a beacon to quickly lure Kitty and Kurt to the lab, as well as a few mental images of where to go, and I followed along with them. And just in the nick of time, because Sabertooth was about to go after Nightcrawler again. I held him in a telekinetic field, making him stop in his tracks, but he was still stronger than Logan, so I couldn't hold him for long. But I could certainly smear him for a while.

"Touch him, and I'll personally make sure the Sabertooth really does go extinct." I said, gesturing my hand to the wall, making Sabertooth follow along and slam directly into it before gesturing to the other wall, and then back and forth before tossing him to the floor. I stood over him as he looked at me with dizzy eyes and growled in fury. I stared back at him as my eyes began to glow. "And for my next trick…" I slid him across the floor until he was directly under the entrance hatch. "I make a pussy fly."

"Ripley!" He roared as my eyes flashed once before Sabertooth shot straight up through the hatch and rocketed into the sky, completely out of sight in a matter of seconds. I let out a deep breath and sighed.

"Man, I am going to need the biggest nap after today." I said before Nightcrawler ran up to me.

"You're okay!" He said, smiling.

"At this moment, not really." I massaged the center of my forehead and groaned a little. "A bit of a headache."

"You sounded like you were in trouble."

"Yeah, sorry. I had to make sure you and Kitty made it here as fast as possible." I looked around for a moment before realizing that Shadowcat wasn't with us at the moment. "Speaking of whom; where is she?"

"She vent deeper into the lab to try and find you and Logan."

"We should go then. Before she worries anymore."

"Yeah, but I don't know vhere the others could be." I sighed before my eye began to glow brightly. I scanned around the halls and came across Kitty taking shortcuts between walls and rooms of the facility, but then went further down the hall and felt Logan, angrily shredding a door with his claws.

"Found them." I said as I held out my hand. Nightcrawler spared no words and grabbed it before I took us to find our friends.

Meanwhile (Normal POV)

After a few moments of slicing at the thick metal door, Logan gave it one swift kick, making a section of the door fall in. He was through with the door, now he had one more thing to get rid of; the very creature who gave him his claws, and set his blank destiny in motion. The Doctor stood in his chair with his hand directly over the button now.

"I warned you!" The Doctor yelled. Wolverine sniffed before rapidly approaching the little ghoul with his claws gleaming. The Doctor pressed the button before giving it a sharp twist, the meter of the chip reaching maximum power. Before he got another step closer, Wolverine gripped at his head and roared with the most excruciating pain he ever felt. The Doctor sneered at him as he writhed before pressing another button on the panel. From four large compartments, doors opened to reveal a large, red robot drones within each that resembled four-legged spiders with square bodies and a blinking eye on top. The drones walked over to the downed Wolverine, and from the bottom of their bodies, thick metal tentacles emerged and reached out to him. Wolverine was indeed in the worst type of pain yet, but it was nothing compared to all of the unyielding rage burning in his heart. He let out one loud roar before slicing at one drone's tentacle before jumping to another and slicing it directly in half. However, with the pain going in his mind, it distracted him and made him slower, which allowed a drone to grab at him with its tentacles. Which in turn gave the other remaining drone a chance to wrap its tentacles around his body and lift him into the air. Wolverine growled loudly and struggled to break free of the drone's grasp, but they were too strong, and the pain in his head made any effort to try and free himself nearly unbearable. The Doctor smiled and grasped his hands. His greatest asset seemed to be his again, at long last.

"Okay! I can see the problem here." A voice said. The startled Doctor looked over to the source of the voice and saw Shadowcat rushing directly towards the computer console, and through the drones, making them short-circuit and fall apart under their own weight, and drop Wolverine. She jumped right through the Doctor and right into the computer, making it spark for a moment before exploding, and knocking the man back a few feet. The console continued to crackle and pop before Shadowcat reemerged halfway from the keyboard. "Whoa, is it me, or did it just get really hot in here?" She jumped out of the computer, making the last few bits of its circuits explode. As the rest of the lab began to rock and explode in various places, the Doctor looked on in terror and stood up to run, but was stopped when someone's foot stomped on his arm and broke it, making him scream out in agony. He looked up to whose foot that was, and saw a young man with black hair and glowing blue eyes and a blue demon looking straight at him with bold smiles of victory.

(Ripley's POV)

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did that hurt?" I asked, sarcastically. After I stomped on the Doctor's arm, I stared him down with most vengeful thoughts of retribution before I looked back to Logan, who had shredded the remaining pieces of the robot drones so that they couldn't ever get up or move anything again. He looked at me with a surprised expression on his face before looking down at the Doctor and growled as he pointed his claws directly at him.

"You caged the wrong animal, bub." He said. I got off the Doctor's arm before I pulled him to his feet.

"You had this coming for a long time, you sadist." I whispered to him.

"Are you all insane?!" He yelled. "This place is about to blow!"

"Let it, then!" Logan shouted before looking to us. "All of you, get outta here."

"No way!" I shouted.

"We're not leaving without you!" Kitty said in agreement before Nightcrawler appeared behind us and grabbed our wrists.

"No arguments this time." He said.

"Wanna bet?" I thought as we vanished from sight. A couple miles from the mountain spire, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat appeared in the woods. As they both sighed in relief, Kitty suddenly took notice that I wasn't outside with them.

"Where's Ripley?" She asked. "Didn't you grab him too?" Nightcrawler looked around for a moment before a few loud explosions caught his attention. The two X-Men look at the mountain and gasped in horror.

"Mein Gott." Nightcrawler whispered. Meanwhile, the main hub of the lab was beginning to crumble and burn, and Wolverine just stood in the epicenter, awaiting what he thought fate had in store for him. He stared the Doctor in the face and sniffed at him.

"Project Weapon X has been terminated." He said. Suddenly, I appeared in front of him, making him and the Doctor flinch. Before Kurt vanished, I teleported a split second before he did and wound up back in the halls before going back immediately after I left. And before anyone could protest my presence, I began focusing all of my power through my body until I felt the familiar rupture within myself. My head and my hands burst into flames as I looked the evil scientist right in the eye, making him tremble in genuine fear, and making me sneer at him.

"Forever this time." I said as my body burst with light.

Meanwhile (Normal POV)

Nightcrawler and Shadowcat were quickly trekking back to the mountain, when all of a sudden, a loud thundering explosion rocked the entire forest. They both looked up and saw what seemed to be a mushroom cloud over the mountain before a shockwave began to emit from the epicenter. Nightcrawler grabbed onto Shadowcat and teleported back further to avoid the power of the shockwave, which tore apart nearly every tree for miles. The two X-Men reappeared at a different spot a little ahead of the shockwave, but then a cloud of smoke and snow rushed by them, making them cough and gag.

"Logan! Ripley!" Kitty shouted.

Later

A few minutes had gone by since the explosion, and Nightcrawler and Shadowcat had taken a seat at the base of the mountain, awaiting their friends to come back to them. They both knew from experience that both Logan and Ripley could survive an explosion, but after a little while things seemed to be a bit hopeless. Shadowcat was nearly on the verge of tears, and Nightcralwer had an arm around her shoulder to comfort her when a noise suddenly caught their attention. They both stood up and looked around for the source of the noise when through the remaining smoke, they saw the outlining shapes of two men walking right towards them. When they looked closer, they saw that the two figures were the bruised and bleeding forms of Wolverine and Ripley.

"Mr. Logan. Ripley." Shadowcat muttered.

"Oh, man." Nightcrawler said, gazing in horror at his mutilated friends. Ripley looked at the two and smiled at them.

"You can drive this time." He said before the two men dropped to the ground in a heap. Nightcrawler and Shadowcat rushed over to them and placed a delicate hand upon their heads.

Much Later (At the Mansion)

Logan laid in a hospital bed, tossing and turning when he opened his eyes and yelled out in surprise. He panted, nearly hyperventilating before realizing where he was.

"Relax, my friend." Logan looked over to his left and saw Xavier rolling towards him. "You're back in the Institute." The Professor placed a gentle hand on Logan's shoulder and smiled. "You're safe." Logan took a few deep breaths to relax himself and sighed.

"Yeah." He said before his eyes widened. "And what about the kids? Are they okay?"

"Kitty and Kurt are fine. They've been in here nearly every other hour they could, but Ripley however..." Logan's eyes widened in terror as he immediately feared the worst. Xavier smiled and pointed his eyes to the opposite side of the bed. Logan followed his gaze and there was Ripley, covered with Band-Aids and a few bandages, in a chair with his head rested upon his arms on the lower right side of the bed. Logan raised a brow before looking at Xavier. "He's never left your side. He has always been here waiting for you to wake up the entire time and refused to leave for hardly anything. Not even for school." Logan looked at Ripley and smiled as he placed a hand upon his head.

"Crazy kid." He said. Ripley stirred in his sleep before Logan removed his hand and sighed. "And the chip?"

"We removed it." Xavier replied. "It wasn't an easy task, but we did it. Do you feel any pain?" Logan touched his forehead and felt the bandage that was now wrapped around his scalp and grunted.

"Yeah, but not from the wound." Logan laid back on the bed without disturbing Ripley. "Someday though, I'm gonna find out who made that ghoul do this to me, and I'm gonna make em pay." He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "That's a promise."

(Ripley's POV)

I stirred for a bit in my sleep before I found the energy to awaken. I straightened up in my chair and stretched with a yawn before rubbing my eyes.

"Well, look who's back to the land of the living." A familiar voice said. My eyes opened up and I immediately woke up all of the way when I saw who was talking to me

"Logan!" I said, wrapping my arms around him. Logan growled under his breath, telling me to let him go. "Sorry, sorry, it's just so good to see you awake. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Considering." Logan replied, pointing to his head.

"Well, I bet. It's still good to see you awake, though."

"What about you? Are you feeling okay?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied looking over the Band-Aids on my body. "Considering."

"Good." Logan punched my right arm above the elbow, making me wince.

"Ow!" I yelled, rubbing my arm.

"Same exact spot!" I thought.

"What, is it Punch-the-Rip Day today or something?" Logan turned in the bed to face me directly.

"Why the hell didn't you leave when I told you to?!" He yelled. "You could've died down there, you idiot!"

"I could've, but I didn't." I replied. "The Doctor, on the other hand did die down there, so if at all, he was the real idiot." Logan rolled his eyes and laid his head on the pillow with a grunt."

"I can't go a week without you kids getting into trouble, can I?" He said. I cleared my throat and nervously rubbed my arm.

"To be honest, I was the only one originally following you. Kitty and Kurt were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and they followed my lead when they had to. They had nothing to do with my being there." Logan looked at me with a surprised expression.

"You knew where I was goin'?" He asked. I hesitated for a second, but nodded my head.

"David, why would you place yourself in such a dangerous position again?" Xavier asked. I nearly laughed when Xavier asked me that question.

"Because I know what that place meant for Logan." I grabbed Logan's right hand and held it gently. "I knew that you had to uncover a very important part of your past, and I get wanting to get all of the answers to one's self by one's self because it's nobody's business. But then when I learned how dangerous and harmful it was, I just thought it would important to remind you that you're not alone anymore like you were before." I looked Logan in the eye and smiled at him. "Like you've reminded me." Logan smirked before he closed his eyes and lightly shook his head. He looked back at me with a genuine smile before placing a hand upon my shoulder.

"You're one brave, stupid kid, David Allen Ripley." He said.

"I know." I replied, placing hand upon his. Xavier wheeled backwards to the left of the doorway.

"Come, Ripley. You've been in this room long enough, and Logan needs his rest." He said.

"Okay." I said. Logan released me before I slowly stood up and walked towards the door. Logan let out a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Wait." Logan said, making Xavier and I look back at him. "He can stay here for the night, Chuck. He's earned it." I smiled before a teardrop nearly escaped my eye. Xavier smiled before he rolled out of the room.

"Very well, but I expect you to be up and ready for school by the next morning, Ripley. Is that understood?" He said.

"Yes, sir." I replied. Xavier nodded before he rolled out of the hallway. I moved the chair I sat in to the corner before levitating myself into a comfortable laying position in the air. Logan looked at me with a raised brow before turning over to face me.

"Rip?" He said. I looked over to him with a little smile.

"Yeah, Logan?" I replied. Logan grunted once before sneering at me.

"Ya know you're grounded again, right?" I shrugged my shoulders once before laying my head back and sighing.

"I can live with that." I leaned myself back until I was just about upside-down. "As long as we're all safe, sound, and alive, and comfortable, I'm good." Logan rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"Never change, Rip." He said. Still smiling, I looked up at him.

"For you? Never." I replied.

End of Chapter 37