His room at the mansion. Not really his but it was the room he remembered as being his in the future. The future where he'd picked up a girl in a bar (not intentionally) and later in the throes of a nightmare impaled her on his claws.
The future where she'd touched him and he'd felt her mutation, a hot sweet sting starting on his skin and spreading through the rest of his body. Hotter, hotter, burning; wonderful and terrible at the same time.
He'd failed her, again and again, and she paid the price for it each time. The white streaks in her hair, the pain etched on her skin, the wariness of her eyes. Every time he tried to protect her; he'd hurt her instead. Pursuing Jean, searching for his past, trying to keep her safely away from the violence in his nature.
Chasing a woman who was taken, so he wouldn't pursue the girl who'd been tangled up in his heartstrings since she'd screamed a warning in that dive of a bar. Endless trips on the road, looking for any clue to his identity, something to help him keep his past away from her. It hadn't done any good. She'd had him from that first moment. He'd known that eventually he'd be selfish and give in to the need he had for her. The need that went beyond love or friendship or lust into something so primal he didn't have a name for it.
Objectively he knew that there were other factors that had contributed to his failures with Marie. Bobby and his cheating. The whispers that followed the girl with poison skin. The way powerful mutants like Magneto sought to use her as a pawn. Even the way Charles wanted to keep her at the school, so she'd be 'safe'. He should have ignored all of them once Magneto was locked up. He should have put his tags around her neck and taken her away and to hell with what anyone thought of him.
He'd thought they'd have time. Time had always been the one thing he'd had so much of. But he'd never had enough with her. He'd have given her every bit of his mutation if it meant keeping her with him.
So strange to be in the same room, his past overlapping with his future and present. He wondered if he'd dream of her tonight.
The walls seemed to blur around him, sound overlapping. The voice of an older Charles and an exhausted Eric, laid over the sounds of Hank and young Charles talking, worry in their voices. Like a badly erased tape, the past and the future collided in his ears and he shook his head as if to fling off the mental static.
That tender voice; he never thought he'd hear it again, thought she was gone, lost to him. Lost in a way he'd never lost anyone else. The scent of her skin, like orange blossom, no matter what perfume or soap she used. "Hello Logan."
Hank's footsteps, clear and crisp, the scent of his worry seeping under the thick mahogany door. Better find out what's going on.
Hope. He has to hope. Has to believe that they'll change things. And if they do, he won't have the chance to say this afterwards. Has to be now. "Charles." His old/young friend looked at him and Logan half smiled, "After today, the future is gonna be different." Urgency filled his voice and Charles blinked up at him. This was a different kind of life and death, and Logan knew Charles could see it, feel it, in Logan's face, his voice; "But I want you to promise me something. No matter what happens today. Promise me one thing won't change..."
Now Charles seemed a little confused, obviously not sure where Logan was going with this, or why it was so important to him, "The X-Men. You put us together. We were a good group. Cyclops, Storm...Jean. We went through a lot together, so...you'll do that yeah, you'll find us again?" Logan paused, "It's important Charles. For a lot of reasons." If the X-men still existed, then so would the school. There'd be a chance Marie would be there. And if she wasn't...well he'd been around a long time, and he knew how to track people down. It had been part of his job back when the X-men had been more than fugitives.
Maybe Charles saw something in Logan's mind, his memories, what the X-men could become, the people they could save. Or maybe he saw the memory of a good kind girl used as a pawn by too many. "I'll do my best," The telepath nodded.
Logan had to smile at that, because the best Charles could do, as Logan had already seen in the (past? future? talk about confusing), was pretty damn good, "That'll be enough."
Fighting side by side with Hank. So close. Almost close enough to stop it. Nixon was a piece of shit, but nobody deserved what Magneto would do to him. Well. Maybe Trask.
Pain. Agony boiling through him as his body filled with metal. His last thought before he blacked out was the hope that when he woke up again, she'd be there.
'The first time...ever I saw your face... I thought the sun...rose in your eyes... And the moon and the stars...were the gifts you gave...to the dark, and the endless sky...'
Roberta Flack. Funny how some things echoed through his life. He'd always liked that song. And even more since he'd met her. He couldn't hear it without thinking of her.
Familiar surroundings. His room at the mansion. Noise in the halls, footsteps, voices, young and old, Pull on a pair of jeans and a shirt and step into the hall. Hank. So much older, almost portly (though not quite there yet; Hank was too active to actually get fat), same kind eyes, "Good morning Logan, getting a bit of a late start, are we?"
Shove his feet into his boots and feel for his tags. Not around his neck. But a familiar heaviness to his body that he hadn't had the last time he was conscious (however that worked between the future and the past); he had metal on his bones again, he could feel it. So where were his tags?
Obviously some things had happened again, more echoes, which figured. Maybe not the same as last time though. Maybe he didn't have tags this time. Though with Stryker's penchant for stamping his ownership on people and things it seemed unlikely. Move through the school, absorb the feel of it, scents, sounds, familiar and new faces and voices. Storm in one room, teaching in her serene way, her hand holding something on a chain around her neck, rubbing it between her fingers. There was Kitty, doing a presentation on something.
Jean, in the doorway of Xavier's office, leaning against the frame. A look over her shoulder and she smiled up at him. Alive. "Jean," He couldn't believe it at first. "You're here."
"Where else would I be?" A slight frown tilting her smile as she sensed something wasn't quite right with him. "Are you okay?"
And as he walked up to her there was Scott, a territorial puppy, just like always, "Whoa, easy pal."
"Guess somethings don't change," Logan murmured with a smile. "Good to see you, Scott."
Those two walked off, to who knew where (but not before Scott gave him a look like he suspected Logan had lost his mind), and Logan took in the welcome sight of his old friend. So odd to see the young face of Charles echoed in the features of the aged professor Logan had first met. "Logan, don't you have a class to teach?"
"A class." Logan repeated the words slowly, testing them for familiarity and finding nothing, "To teach."
The Professor nodded, "History."
He couldn't help the wry smile curving his lips, "Actually, I could use a little help with that."
Charles was still going over the paperwork on his desk, "What exactly do you need help with?"
"Pretty much everything after nineteen seventy-three," He dropped that little bomb and Charles's hand on the pen slowed as he looked up. Logan could feel the telepath in his mind, seeing flashes of that other life, that terrible future history. The history they'd re-written.
"It worked," Charles murmured almost to himself and Logan half smiled as the telepath recovered his usual aplomb. "That's quite a lot to cover."
The Wolverine nodded, "I've got time." He hadn't seen her yet, hopefully Charles would cover how he remembered Logan meeting the X-men in this version of his life. He hoped she was there. Hoped...hoped...
"Well then," Xavier nodded, his mouth quirking upwards in a gentle smile. Maybe he'd gotten another glimpse of Logan's thoughts. "We'll need someone else for this conversation."
The huge (and compared to Logan that meant gargantuan) feral that appeared in the doorway behind Logan was damn near soundless to anyone but another feral and Logan growled reflexively.
"Jimmy what is your fuckin' problem," Victor Creed gave him a look like Logan had lost his mind (and who'd have thought Cyclops and Sabretooth had anything in common?) before he growled at Xavier. "Chuck, you know I fuckin' hate it when you talk in my head like that. I damn near sliced somebody open."
"Please. Victor, we both know your control is much less tenuous than you claim," Charles rolled his eyes.
"Yeh huh," Creed sighed, looking put upon as only a feline could manage. "So, what'd you interrupt the tutoring for?"
"Logan here has some difficulties recalling...everything past nineteen seventy-three," Charles informed him. "And it's due to some rather extraordinary circumstances."
Victor Creed had died early in the Sentinel age, the rage that fueled him no match for machines that could mutate to combat his strength and ferocity. He'd been on their side for nearly a decade before his death, not long in terms of his life but long enough for him to change a bit. Tempering his rage with some compassion. He'd been mourned, as much as the remaining mutants had time to mourn anyone.
Charles was looking at him again and his smile was a strange mix of sad and peaceful before he glanced at the Sabretooth. "He'll need a bit of help acclimating once we've filled him in on the history we remember."
Weird. Only way to describe it. But he'd heard their version of history. Stryker figured pretty largely in this version. Jean, Kurt, and Scott had freed Logan. Victor had been at the same facility and Jean had been insistent that they free him as well before they got Raven, Hank, Pietro, and Moira out of the base. Victor had gone in search of Logan.
In this history Victor hadn't ever joined up with Eric. Though apparently Eric had backslid once or twice and one of the times had involved trying to use Rogue as his battery to power that stupid machine. They'd stopped him and Mystique had torn the man a new one. But surrounded by metal, they hadn't been able to keep him from escaping.
It had been, as Charles said, quite the brouhaha. Or in Victor's words, a fuckin' mess to clean up. But at least Victor had some idea of where to look for pieces of Logan's history, shared as it was. And they'd kept the trips short, returning to the mansion in between.
"I swear, every time we left that girl of yours looked ready to drop your ass to make you stay longer," Victor smirked at him. Oddly familiar. Like Creed had been making that face at him for years.
Marie. He hadn't seen her yet, had been afraid she wasn't here, despite his lack of tags. "Where is she?"
"Right now... probably headed for phys-ed," Victor told him, still smirking. "That blond kid keeps following her around like a puppy."
The growl that sounded in Logan's throat didn't seem to startle either man, though Charles just looked amused and Victor smug. "Told you," Sabretooth smirked at the telepath.
"So you did," Charles reached into his coat and pulled out his wallet and a crisp twenty.
"Told him what?" Logan looked at the two of them.
"He thought maybe this version of you wouldn't claim Rogue," Victor rolled his eyes. "Since your history isn't the same."
"And you knew otherwise," Wolverine regarded his older brother (and that never failed to be a kick in the head, even if it was a good kick).
"You two are the same people at your core. Of course, you're gonna claim her," Grey eyes flared gold for a moment with amusement. "Guess it never came out in your old future. Just like it seems I never got my shit together until we were all being exterminated like roaches."
"Nice change," Logan half smiled. "I'll take it."
"Yeah, well there's a reason neither of us are wearing our tags," Victor informed him. "Give her another hour or so."
"Sit, absorb everything," Charles advised as Victor stood from the stone bench he'd claimed in the sunny garden. "Victor can cover your classes for a day or so."
"Gee thanks for volunteerin' me Chuck," Creed groused half-heartedly as the two of them headed back into the mansion. "Like I don't have my own classes."
Logan listened to them bickering, the words warm with long familiarity, and let himself enjoy the sun on his face.
He wasn't sure how long he sat there, thinking over the new version of history he'd learned, mentally making notes about getting a few history books. Charles theorized that he'd likely always remember that alternate future but he'd begin to also remember this version's history as his mind integrated with his surroundings.
Seemed weird to think but right now, coming from that horrifying place, he could only be grateful that things had changed.
"Logan," That gentle voice, Mississippi drawl in her words, even in his name. "Whatcha doin' out here by yourself sugar?" No gloves. He blinked and gave her a smile as she moved towards him and instead of sitting on the bench beside him, straddled his hips and draped her arms around his neck.
"Lemme look at you," He murmured, one hand winding a long dark curl around his fingers while the other pressed to the small of her back. "How do you keep getting more beautiful each time I see you?"
"I don't," She laughed softly. Always such a lady, his girl. "You just forget. You and your Swiss cheese memory."
"You ain't wrong about that," He tried to remember how old she was. How old would she have been when he'd been sent back? Was this comfortable intimacy their normal? In his memories she'd been shy of touching anyone, afraid of hurting them.
"What's wrong sugar?" Marie tilted her head. "You want me to zap you, so you don't gotta say?" She held one finger over his cheekbone teasingly.
"Might make it easier to understand," He took a deep breath. "Because..." He thought he'd never see her again. Thought he'd lost her.
"All right," A quizzical look but her fingers touched his skin, soft, tender, none of the hot sweet sting he recalled, not for a moment or two and then he felt it.
He hoped she wasn't getting everything dumped in her head, she had enough nightmares without ones of a future that wouldn't ever happen. It didn't take long before her fingers pulled away and she stared at him. "Oh sugar, no wonder you look a little lost." She shook her head and pressed a tender kiss to his lips.
"I thought I'd lost you, thought you'd been killed, that I'd never see you again," Logan admitted. "Didn't see you on my way down to Charles' office. Wasn't even sure you were here until Creed and Charles told me."
"I'm here," She smiled. "You've been courtin' me, all proper an' polite, until Wolverine gets his hackles up when one of the boys gets too close. An' then it's all cuddlin' an' kissin' me until someone clears their throat and reminds you, I'm only sixteen still."
"Least you ain't fifteen," Logan sighed. "Vic said I claimed you."
"Well yeah," Marie kissed his nose. "It's kinda preliminary, but you put your tags around my neck, and you kiss me, an' I'm your girl an' you're my guy. We're getting there. You've been pretty stubborn about takin' things slow sugar."
"Guess when you ain't been hunted by mutant killin' robots for decades things ain't so...rushed," Logan admitted. "But you're happy?"
"Of course I am sugar," She smiled at him. "You make me feel safe. I've been gettin' control of my skin these past six months. And that stepped up the kissing some, since I have some catching up to do." A wicked gleam in her eyes, "I wouldn't mind gettin' past first base though sugar."
"Gimme a couple days to...acclimate," Logan cupped her cheek in his hand and drew her close, kissing her the way he'd wanted since he'd found her. "And we'll see about that darlin'."
"We've got time sugar," Marie sighed against his lips and he wrapped his arms around her, feeling her body relax into his.
He could breathe deeply for the first time in decades. And he couldn't help but agree. "Yeah," He kissed her again, just because he could. "We've got time; now." And he wasn't going to waste any of it. Second chances were rare, despite what most people believed. This time around, he'd make sure she knew how important she was. This time, he wouldn't let anyone get in the way of making her happy.
"Darlin'," He pressed a kiss to her throat. "Why don't you tell me how we met? Got the basics from Charles and Victor. But I'd like to hear about it from you."
"Okay sugar, if that's what you want to hear," Marie had a smile in her voice and her fingers carded through the thick hair at the base of his skull, making him want to purr. "But afterwards…we're gonna discuss the possibility of me gettin' to second base."
"Well when it comes time for that discussion we'll need to be somewhere a little more private," Logan smiled. "But I think we can manage that."
"Good," His girl pressed a kiss to his jaw and Logan settled in to listen as Marie told him about the first time he ever saw her face.
Author's Note: I really...really hated that they didn't have Rogue in the Days of Future Past movie. It didn't make sense to me that she wasn't involved at all because it seemed like it was her mutation that allowed the Sentinels to absorb and reflect powers back at the mutants.
Then I saw the uncut movie, and got a hold of the uncut script.
So this is my fix-it.