The scent comes first (*)
"Hey kid, missed you," greeted Wolverine in a low voice as the teenager walked in the room.
The young Asian girl smiled sweetly at the man sitting on the couch She hugged him tightly then sat by his side. No one in the Rec Room sent any disaproval look, nor any frown was visible. They just smiled knowingly to the man named Logan, codename Wolverine.
"Missed you too, Wolvie," she answered.
Even if she saw him the day before, it was always the same. He missed her. And so did she. Over the years, Wolvie had became her best friend. It was him who insisted she called him Wolvie when she wanted to use a more proper name for him.
She was just babbling things about her previous evening when Wolverine interrupted her soliloque.
"Smells like Cyke," he said.
"Cyke? You know, it's been like an eternity since we saw him around..."
"Can it, kid. I can smell his pansy ass miles away. It's Cyke."
"But..."
"No but, darlin'. I know... wait..."
Logan tensed as he sniffed around. People started looking at him suspiciously. No one wanted to deal with an angry Wolverine. So they kept their comments for themselves.
".Jeannie... I can smell her. But where is she?" he asked, looking around.
"Wolvie, Jean is..."
"Hold it." He looked around, searching for the source of the many scents he could smell. None of the individual scents he caught came from a person actually in the room.
He could distinctively, without any doubt, trace Cyke and Jean, their scents so intimatly close to each other. Then he could smell Chuck, that old cue-ball in his wheelchair. Storm's scent was very easy to focus on, santal and roses always emanating from her Goddess body.
With little effort, he could now distinguish Rogue and the Cajun's respective scents. Rogue's had never really mixed with any other. Poor gal.
And of course, Jubilee's scent was everywhere. All around him. Sweetest as ever, sitcky as her bubble gum. It smelled like spring to him. Like Life itself had smelled for years since he met her.
Unable to find the individuals he smelled, Logan sat back, a bit agitated.
"You ok?" asked the teenager.
His only answer was a low growl.
Just then, he saw them. They say the scent comes first.
Jean, always so wonderfull, with Cyke at her side. Chuck, Storm, Rogue and Remy. They all were before him now, smiling. What was their game?
Jubilee appeared before him, a huge smile on her face.
"Hey, Wolvie. We've waited a long time for you," she said. "I missed you."
"Missed you too, kid."
"It's time to come home, Logan," smiled Jean.
"Yeah, Red. I want to," whispered Logan.
Logan held the teenager's small hand in his large one.
Logan knew he had to go, join his lost friends... his lost family. He wanted to.
Even the bravest gets tired.
Years after Logan, codename Wolverine, died that day, it was common knowledge in the X-Gig that the Old Canucklehead passed away peacefully, a smile on his face.
That his last words had been " I'm the best..."
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(*) Many religious beliefs over the years and over the world, record witnesses saying that, before the visit of a spirit (or spiritual entity), one can smell roses or other nice odors.