Part Four: Bloody Memories
Logan lay in his bed in is room drenched in sweat. Soft animalistic gasps escaped his lips every few moments. The sound alone was enough to make your blood run cold. But the dreams that hid under the surface of such painful sleep were worse than hell.
A flash! A green light, bubbles in champagne, or are those bubbles in front of my eyes. Someone is laughing. Why are they laughing? I can't move. I can't feel my hands. A face in darkness. Am I dead? Why can't I move? This is thicker than water. I can taste blood. I can taste blood.
Marilyn woke in her own bed a room over to those awful sounds. She silently slipped out of her own bed wearing only her white panties and the tank top. She ran a hand through her mussed hair as she stepped out into the hall. She was immediately startled to see another figure standing outside Logan's room in her pajamas. It was the young girl she had met earlier in the day.
Rogue looked at Marilyn with tears in her eyes.
"Ah wish there was something Ah could do." Rogue's voice was a whisper. "Last time Ah tried to wake him, Ah almost killed us both." She said with a heavy heart. Marilyn frowned at that. She wrapped her arms around herself as if a chill had passed through her, although the climate-controlled mansion air hadn't changed.
"Do you know why it happens?" Rogue asked Marilyn suddenly in a pain filled southern drawl.
"I think 'e dreams bout the people who gave him 'is claws. I think they musta hurt him pretty badly, an' he can't member, so he 'as nightmares bout it." Marilyn's accent slipped into its unabated Aussie nature at three a.m. and she did little to try to make herself better understood.
"Can't y'all do something? Please. He's breaking my heart."
Marilyn nodded at Rogue, and opened the door. The dim light of the hallway illuminated Logan's twitching frame, tangled up in his bedclothes. Rogue slipped in behind her staying in the doorway.
"I have an idea." Marilyn said coolly.
"Wha…?"
"Watch."
Marilyn picked up one of Logan's boots that was lying haphazardly in the middle of the floor and tossed it on the bed. It landed with a thud next to Logan and produced the desired effect. Logan shot bolt upright in his bed, his claws instinctively unsheathing themselves. His eyes were blank with momentary madness and primal fear. His breath came out in heavy gasps and as his situation slowly dawned on him his claws slipped back into his hands with a snikt and his muscles visibly relaxed. The blood drained out of his face, and he reached up and put his head in his hands. Long, silent moments dragged by, each an eon in their own right. The air in the room was like trying to wade through thick mud. It left the soul tired, the bones weary, and breath short.
Marilyn finally broke the standoff and went and sat beside Logan pulling a sheet over him and her half-naked self. Rogue came full into the room and switched on a soft lamp, and sat on a chair. Logan still did not speak.
"I was living on the edge o' the outback with me mum when I first learned of my so called power. We had a small horse ranch and herded brumbys. It was, all in all, a good life, but things changed when I did. 'Aving what I though was a good relationship with my mum I went to her. I thought she would understand. I was wrong. She made it very clear that I was not to be accepted as I was. She turned me o'er to the government. Tests were done. I was prodded and poked and treated like a lab rat. Mutants were just starting to appear in the world. Scientists did'n know what to make of me. I was afraid. I didn't know what was happing to me either. That's why I let the tests go on for so long. That was nearly thirty years ago. I stopped aging about twenty years ago. Well, I think I still age, but it's so slow now that I ne'er see it happen.
When it became apparent that the doctors could'na help me I ran. It was easy to escape. Even if I didn't have very good control of my powers at that time. I simply walked out. I wish it would 'ave ended there. I was hunted night and day. I did'n have the means to flee the country or I would 'ave. I crossed the continent five times o'er, tryin' 't escape my captors. I 'ad become their prized experiment. The thing they were going to win Nobel prizes for figuring out. I ceased to be a person then. I became a ghost. I was always looking o'er m' shoulder I was just as haunted as m' namesake.
It didn' stop there I made ma' way to America. I thought I could hide 'er, but I missed open spaces. I moved to a wee town in Montana right on the border. But I got found out an eventually some one musta' got me cos I awoke one morning with a collar round m' neck that suppressed m' powers. I was chained and gagged and taken to some sort of laboratory. How long I was there I don't know. I 'ave very little memories of that time. The most vivid one I 'ave is of being tied to a table with a hood o'er m' head. I could see out of the bottom a bit. There was a tube going into m' arm. I was drugged m' head felt heavy and I was 'aving a hard time staying awake, but I was painfully aware of everything. The tube in my arm 'ad blood in it, and it was goin' into me. On m' other side m' own blood was being drained outa me. It was some kind of transfusion. Why, I don' know, but I do know that the blood that flows through m' veins is no longer m' own. After that I could heal almost any wound I got nearly instantly. I think that's also when I stopped aging. I don't know who was on the other end of that tube, but whoever it was 'as saved m' life more than once.
Things happened. I don't know what did it, or why, but late one evening all the power went out. The collar round m' neck just dropped off. Like someone flipped a switch. That was when I made m' final escape. Without the collar, there was nothing 't keep me an once again I went invisible and just walked out. I been running ever since. I don't know if they're still chasing me or not. That was, maybe, fifteen years ago, and I been runnin' for a long time. I went back eventually, t' try and figure out wha' happened"
The air was thick after Marilyn's story. Logan had visibly gone pale. Her story touching too deeply on what might have happened to him. He shook his head slowly trying to dislodge his own faded memories form his brain.
"Where… were you? When you escaped, where were you?"
"Canada."
"Canada…." He repeated in a muttered tone, beginning to shake slightly. Rogue's eyes grew big. Marilyn, again, spoke.
"It was you wasn' it? You were on the other side of that tube, and it was you who made it possible for me 't escape."
"I… I don't know. It could have been. I don't remember."
"Gosh! This is all to far out. Y'all mean ya know each other?" Rogue piped in, eyes as large as saucers.
"Sorta," Marilyn answered. "Let's just say. We been through a lot o' the same things at the same time, and don't member to much bout it."
Logan was still visibly shaken. To find someone who had been through it too. It was quite possible that when he escaped the power had gone out, and caused Marilyn's collar to deactivate. Lord knows how many others had escaped that dark night. Most likely it was just the two of them, and Marilyn only because of her power. Logan, himself, had hacked his way out with bloody hands and a fist full of metal. He remembered little of that dark night.
Silence again invaded the room. The trio mulled over each of their pasts. Thoughts invading the cool air of the night. Much was left unspoken, but a common bond had formed between Logan, Marilyn, and Rogue, who was now a witness to their shared pain.
Logan lay in his bed in is room drenched in sweat. Soft animalistic gasps escaped his lips every few moments. The sound alone was enough to make your blood run cold. But the dreams that hid under the surface of such painful sleep were worse than hell.
A flash! A green light, bubbles in champagne, or are those bubbles in front of my eyes. Someone is laughing. Why are they laughing? I can't move. I can't feel my hands. A face in darkness. Am I dead? Why can't I move? This is thicker than water. I can taste blood. I can taste blood.
Marilyn woke in her own bed a room over to those awful sounds. She silently slipped out of her own bed wearing only her white panties and the tank top. She ran a hand through her mussed hair as she stepped out into the hall. She was immediately startled to see another figure standing outside Logan's room in her pajamas. It was the young girl she had met earlier in the day.
Rogue looked at Marilyn with tears in her eyes.
"Ah wish there was something Ah could do." Rogue's voice was a whisper. "Last time Ah tried to wake him, Ah almost killed us both." She said with a heavy heart. Marilyn frowned at that. She wrapped her arms around herself as if a chill had passed through her, although the climate-controlled mansion air hadn't changed.
"Do you know why it happens?" Rogue asked Marilyn suddenly in a pain filled southern drawl.
"I think 'e dreams bout the people who gave him 'is claws. I think they musta hurt him pretty badly, an' he can't member, so he 'as nightmares bout it." Marilyn's accent slipped into its unabated Aussie nature at three a.m. and she did little to try to make herself better understood.
"Can't y'all do something? Please. He's breaking my heart."
Marilyn nodded at Rogue, and opened the door. The dim light of the hallway illuminated Logan's twitching frame, tangled up in his bedclothes. Rogue slipped in behind her staying in the doorway.
"I have an idea." Marilyn said coolly.
"Wha…?"
"Watch."
Marilyn picked up one of Logan's boots that was lying haphazardly in the middle of the floor and tossed it on the bed. It landed with a thud next to Logan and produced the desired effect. Logan shot bolt upright in his bed, his claws instinctively unsheathing themselves. His eyes were blank with momentary madness and primal fear. His breath came out in heavy gasps and as his situation slowly dawned on him his claws slipped back into his hands with a snikt and his muscles visibly relaxed. The blood drained out of his face, and he reached up and put his head in his hands. Long, silent moments dragged by, each an eon in their own right. The air in the room was like trying to wade through thick mud. It left the soul tired, the bones weary, and breath short.
Marilyn finally broke the standoff and went and sat beside Logan pulling a sheet over him and her half-naked self. Rogue came full into the room and switched on a soft lamp, and sat on a chair. Logan still did not speak.
"I was living on the edge o' the outback with me mum when I first learned of my so called power. We had a small horse ranch and herded brumbys. It was, all in all, a good life, but things changed when I did. 'Aving what I though was a good relationship with my mum I went to her. I thought she would understand. I was wrong. She made it very clear that I was not to be accepted as I was. She turned me o'er to the government. Tests were done. I was prodded and poked and treated like a lab rat. Mutants were just starting to appear in the world. Scientists did'n know what to make of me. I was afraid. I didn't know what was happing to me either. That's why I let the tests go on for so long. That was nearly thirty years ago. I stopped aging about twenty years ago. Well, I think I still age, but it's so slow now that I ne'er see it happen.
When it became apparent that the doctors could'na help me I ran. It was easy to escape. Even if I didn't have very good control of my powers at that time. I simply walked out. I wish it would 'ave ended there. I was hunted night and day. I did'n have the means to flee the country or I would 'ave. I crossed the continent five times o'er, tryin' 't escape my captors. I 'ad become their prized experiment. The thing they were going to win Nobel prizes for figuring out. I ceased to be a person then. I became a ghost. I was always looking o'er m' shoulder I was just as haunted as m' namesake.
It didn' stop there I made ma' way to America. I thought I could hide 'er, but I missed open spaces. I moved to a wee town in Montana right on the border. But I got found out an eventually some one musta' got me cos I awoke one morning with a collar round m' neck that suppressed m' powers. I was chained and gagged and taken to some sort of laboratory. How long I was there I don't know. I 'ave very little memories of that time. The most vivid one I 'ave is of being tied to a table with a hood o'er m' head. I could see out of the bottom a bit. There was a tube going into m' arm. I was drugged m' head felt heavy and I was 'aving a hard time staying awake, but I was painfully aware of everything. The tube in my arm 'ad blood in it, and it was goin' into me. On m' other side m' own blood was being drained outa me. It was some kind of transfusion. Why, I don' know, but I do know that the blood that flows through m' veins is no longer m' own. After that I could heal almost any wound I got nearly instantly. I think that's also when I stopped aging. I don't know who was on the other end of that tube, but whoever it was 'as saved m' life more than once.
Things happened. I don't know what did it, or why, but late one evening all the power went out. The collar round m' neck just dropped off. Like someone flipped a switch. That was when I made m' final escape. Without the collar, there was nothing 't keep me an once again I went invisible and just walked out. I been running ever since. I don't know if they're still chasing me or not. That was, maybe, fifteen years ago, and I been runnin' for a long time. I went back eventually, t' try and figure out wha' happened"
The air was thick after Marilyn's story. Logan had visibly gone pale. Her story touching too deeply on what might have happened to him. He shook his head slowly trying to dislodge his own faded memories form his brain.
"Where… were you? When you escaped, where were you?"
"Canada."
"Canada…." He repeated in a muttered tone, beginning to shake slightly. Rogue's eyes grew big. Marilyn, again, spoke.
"It was you wasn' it? You were on the other side of that tube, and it was you who made it possible for me 't escape."
"I… I don't know. It could have been. I don't remember."
"Gosh! This is all to far out. Y'all mean ya know each other?" Rogue piped in, eyes as large as saucers.
"Sorta," Marilyn answered. "Let's just say. We been through a lot o' the same things at the same time, and don't member to much bout it."
Logan was still visibly shaken. To find someone who had been through it too. It was quite possible that when he escaped the power had gone out, and caused Marilyn's collar to deactivate. Lord knows how many others had escaped that dark night. Most likely it was just the two of them, and Marilyn only because of her power. Logan, himself, had hacked his way out with bloody hands and a fist full of metal. He remembered little of that dark night.
Silence again invaded the room. The trio mulled over each of their pasts. Thoughts invading the cool air of the night. Much was left unspoken, but a common bond had formed between Logan, Marilyn, and Rogue, who was now a witness to their shared pain.