Disturbing News
Wolverine quickly made his way quietly through the mansion. He had always been able to move around stealthily but usually that was not in a school. Nerves were getting the better of him when he noticed that not much had changed in the time he was gone. This made him wonder if the kid had changed at all, if she still looked innocent and pure, something that he could never be.
He did not stop until he was face to face with the door to Marie's room. Involuntarily his stomach tensed. He was actually here, facing her room. Doubt began to course through him. There was no way he could be sure he was doing the right thing. After all, he had left her, twice, and this time without telling her he was going and with no reassurance that he would return. The dog tags that he had prized so much and had given her before his first departure were gone. Thrown with hatred and anger at the man who gave them to him, for company while he was overrun with water from the broken dam.
Shaking his head and gulping loudly he was able to quash the doubt for the time being and focus on the apology he would have to tell Marie. Raising his hand he rapped it on the door, the metal behind his skin caused the knock to be quite a bit louder than he had wanted. There was the distinct sound of feet approaching the door when he became aware that the scent from the room in front of him was undoubtedly male.
As the door was opened he visibly tensed, fully aware that his senses were never wrong. He knew that the person on the other side was not going to be Marie. A young boy, no more than twelve, was standing in front of him, his jaw hanging loose in surprise.
"Hey," Wolverine began. "Do you know where the kid who used to have this room moved?" He figured he better play it cool with the boy, not wanting to scare him out of his mind before he got the information he needed.
"A-a-ah, er," the boy stuttered. Not being able to push one coherent word out of his mouth at the site of the man at his door. He looked as if he wanted to back away or close the door but his legs would not move from their spot. Instead, as his fear increased his feet began to lift off the ground, still as stiff as a board. The only thing keeping the kid from hitting the ceiling was that his hand was clutching the doorknob he had never released.
"Spit it out!" grunted Wolverine. He was never one to wait and his patience was already ebbing away. There was no way he was going to keep the chicken from fearing him now anyway.
The boy blanched, looking down before he spoke. Probably feeling braver not having to look at him. "I'm fairly new here, but the other kids told me that the girl who used to have this room died about a year ago." He paused feeling the tension build. "They were probably just trying to scare me!" he added quickly seeing the blades shoot out of the man's knuckles.
Many different thoughts were running through Wolverine's mind. 'Why wouldn't they find me?' and 'Surely Chuck could have used that Cereal thing to let me know.' His anger was increasing by the second for all the X-men. 'They knew how much I cared about her!'
For Logan everything seemed to be in slow motion. Berating himself for leaving and breaking his word to protect her. His blood was boiling; he felt like an inferno and wouldn't have been surprised if steam was coming out of his ears. The boy looked like he was going to piss himself standing there in the path of the Wolverine's fury. A fury he had never seen in action but could only imagine, and it was not something that he wanted to see first hand; the things he pictured were bad enough.
His mouth tightened and a snarl escaped through his taunt lips while his nose flared. As he was raising his arm to punch, well stab, the wall he heard the sound of three people running down the hall towards him. He quickly turned and saw Ororo, Bobby, and Scott approaching at full speed. He positioned himself in such a way that would make the three easy prey for the disgruntled hunter if they considered a retreat. They didn't even have time to get close to him before his wrath was unleashed upon them.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He bellowed at the sprinting X-men, his voice full of hate and anger. The words echoed off the long corridor walls three or four times until they were absorbed into an eerie silence.
"Logan!" Ororo wheezed through pants once they were stopped in front of the searing man. "Tell you what?" She still had the shocking white hair and fair skin and was donning a simple black coverlet that concealed her nightclothes.
They were all looking at him like he was crazy. Bobby holding his side to try to remove the stitch that embedded itself there while the weather-goddess reached out to put a hand on Logan's shoulder. Scott was rigid, leaning lightly on the wall to his left with his arms crossed tightly over his chest.
Logan glared from one face to the next. When his eyes reached Bobby he found his voice once more. "That - she's - Dead!" Every syllable laced with fear and dread. "According to him," he lifted his right hand, retracting the claws, pointing his long, thick finger at the boy's frozen body hovering in the doorway, "it happened last year. I would have thought Wheels would have attempted to locate me!"
The three looked bewilderedly between each other, confusion written all over their faces. "Do you mean, Rogue?" Bobby questioned. Logan would have laughed at the attire Bobby wore to bed had the situation been different. He wore pajama pants with some cartoon penguin wearing a knitted hat and scarf shown repeated over the green fabric. It was something that seemed completely out character for him.
"No, Push Pop," sarcasm dripping from each word, "I meant the other girl whose room this was and who I promised to protect."
Ororo squeezed Logan's shoulder gently in a reassuring manner. "She's not dead." Her voice was soft and sincere. He had never known Storm to lie so he was positive she would not have lied about something as important as this. Besides, it was what he wanted to hear anyway, that Marie was alive. Logan's face and body relaxed almost immediately knowing that he had not failed her, at least not yet. Storm resumed talking, "She moved into the teacher's wing a few years back."
'A teacher,' he thought. 'Damn, how long have I been gone?'
As if reading his mind, Scott finally spoke. "It has been five years, of course things are going to be different." Scott, someone the Wolverine could not come to terms with. Well, he had never tried, not really. There just seemed to be a clash of personalities when it came to these two. Logan noticed that his sleepwear seemed to fit him though, and was surprisingly similar to what he normally wore, simple gray sweatpants and a white t-shirt. Although Cyclops was wearing his usual ruby-tinted glasses, there was no doubt hatred for the Wolf man still lingered behind them. "Much has happened and if I were you I wouldn't be surprised if your little reunion doesn't go the way you hope." With that, he turned and started back down the hall.
"Butt out, One-Eye!" Logan chided to his retreating figure. Some things never change!
"Scott is right," Ororo cut in before Logan could come up with anymore 'brilliant' retorts. "Rogue isn't the same kid you left behind. In fact she is no longer a kid at all. She is twenty-three years old and has had many things happen to her, good and bad, that have made her grow up faster than most."
Logan looked pointedly at Bobby. Low and hard he spoke, "You better not have had anything to do with the bad or your insides will find out what the air feels like." Even though he would have said this to him before his revelation this time he actually meant it. If he had caused her any harm he would regret it instantly.
Bobby's eyes widened and then he started laughing hysterically causing the stitch in his side to flare up again. Logan raised a questioning eyebrow at his behavior. No one had ever laughed, outright or otherwise, at one of his threats. And they were not threats, more like promises. If he made a comment like that he would follow through, one way or another.
Finally, Bobby vocalized the answer to Logan's unasked query. "I'm - not - her - boyfriend," he said between fits. "I haven't - been - for years."
Things had begun to look up, at least that is what crossed Logan's mind. Marie not having a boyfriend was terrific luck. "Yeah, well, just proves she's better off without a guy for awhile." He had no idea why he felt the need to say something but regretted his choice of words as soon as they left his mouth. It made him sound weak, and the Wolverine was never weak, quite the contrary.
At that statement three things happened. First, Bobby's laughter abruptly stopped. Second, both he and Storm were wide-eyed and stiff. And third, Logan could smell the tension and anxiety pouring off the other two like water over Niagara Falls.
"What?" was all he could manage, not really wanting to know the answer.
Ororo stole a glance at Bobby before she dove into the waters she never wanted to tread in the first place. "You're partially right, Logan. Rogue doesn't have a boyfriend." The smile on his face could no longer be hidden and he closed his eyes as he breathed a sigh of relief. When the two of them had tensed so abruptly he thought for sure she had found a different boyfriend. Now he could go get some sleep and see her when he was refreshed and thinking clearly.
However, Storm was not finished with her explanation. "Logan?" she hesitantly prodded, causing his eyes to open and look at her directly. An immense fear, rare for Wolverine, suddenly coursed through him.
Once Ororo had Logan's attention again she finished, "She doesn't have a boyfriend because as of last night, he is her fiancé."
Wolverine quickly made his way quietly through the mansion. He had always been able to move around stealthily but usually that was not in a school. Nerves were getting the better of him when he noticed that not much had changed in the time he was gone. This made him wonder if the kid had changed at all, if she still looked innocent and pure, something that he could never be.
He did not stop until he was face to face with the door to Marie's room. Involuntarily his stomach tensed. He was actually here, facing her room. Doubt began to course through him. There was no way he could be sure he was doing the right thing. After all, he had left her, twice, and this time without telling her he was going and with no reassurance that he would return. The dog tags that he had prized so much and had given her before his first departure were gone. Thrown with hatred and anger at the man who gave them to him, for company while he was overrun with water from the broken dam.
Shaking his head and gulping loudly he was able to quash the doubt for the time being and focus on the apology he would have to tell Marie. Raising his hand he rapped it on the door, the metal behind his skin caused the knock to be quite a bit louder than he had wanted. There was the distinct sound of feet approaching the door when he became aware that the scent from the room in front of him was undoubtedly male.
As the door was opened he visibly tensed, fully aware that his senses were never wrong. He knew that the person on the other side was not going to be Marie. A young boy, no more than twelve, was standing in front of him, his jaw hanging loose in surprise.
"Hey," Wolverine began. "Do you know where the kid who used to have this room moved?" He figured he better play it cool with the boy, not wanting to scare him out of his mind before he got the information he needed.
"A-a-ah, er," the boy stuttered. Not being able to push one coherent word out of his mouth at the site of the man at his door. He looked as if he wanted to back away or close the door but his legs would not move from their spot. Instead, as his fear increased his feet began to lift off the ground, still as stiff as a board. The only thing keeping the kid from hitting the ceiling was that his hand was clutching the doorknob he had never released.
"Spit it out!" grunted Wolverine. He was never one to wait and his patience was already ebbing away. There was no way he was going to keep the chicken from fearing him now anyway.
The boy blanched, looking down before he spoke. Probably feeling braver not having to look at him. "I'm fairly new here, but the other kids told me that the girl who used to have this room died about a year ago." He paused feeling the tension build. "They were probably just trying to scare me!" he added quickly seeing the blades shoot out of the man's knuckles.
Many different thoughts were running through Wolverine's mind. 'Why wouldn't they find me?' and 'Surely Chuck could have used that Cereal thing to let me know.' His anger was increasing by the second for all the X-men. 'They knew how much I cared about her!'
For Logan everything seemed to be in slow motion. Berating himself for leaving and breaking his word to protect her. His blood was boiling; he felt like an inferno and wouldn't have been surprised if steam was coming out of his ears. The boy looked like he was going to piss himself standing there in the path of the Wolverine's fury. A fury he had never seen in action but could only imagine, and it was not something that he wanted to see first hand; the things he pictured were bad enough.
His mouth tightened and a snarl escaped through his taunt lips while his nose flared. As he was raising his arm to punch, well stab, the wall he heard the sound of three people running down the hall towards him. He quickly turned and saw Ororo, Bobby, and Scott approaching at full speed. He positioned himself in such a way that would make the three easy prey for the disgruntled hunter if they considered a retreat. They didn't even have time to get close to him before his wrath was unleashed upon them.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He bellowed at the sprinting X-men, his voice full of hate and anger. The words echoed off the long corridor walls three or four times until they were absorbed into an eerie silence.
"Logan!" Ororo wheezed through pants once they were stopped in front of the searing man. "Tell you what?" She still had the shocking white hair and fair skin and was donning a simple black coverlet that concealed her nightclothes.
They were all looking at him like he was crazy. Bobby holding his side to try to remove the stitch that embedded itself there while the weather-goddess reached out to put a hand on Logan's shoulder. Scott was rigid, leaning lightly on the wall to his left with his arms crossed tightly over his chest.
Logan glared from one face to the next. When his eyes reached Bobby he found his voice once more. "That - she's - Dead!" Every syllable laced with fear and dread. "According to him," he lifted his right hand, retracting the claws, pointing his long, thick finger at the boy's frozen body hovering in the doorway, "it happened last year. I would have thought Wheels would have attempted to locate me!"
The three looked bewilderedly between each other, confusion written all over their faces. "Do you mean, Rogue?" Bobby questioned. Logan would have laughed at the attire Bobby wore to bed had the situation been different. He wore pajama pants with some cartoon penguin wearing a knitted hat and scarf shown repeated over the green fabric. It was something that seemed completely out character for him.
"No, Push Pop," sarcasm dripping from each word, "I meant the other girl whose room this was and who I promised to protect."
Ororo squeezed Logan's shoulder gently in a reassuring manner. "She's not dead." Her voice was soft and sincere. He had never known Storm to lie so he was positive she would not have lied about something as important as this. Besides, it was what he wanted to hear anyway, that Marie was alive. Logan's face and body relaxed almost immediately knowing that he had not failed her, at least not yet. Storm resumed talking, "She moved into the teacher's wing a few years back."
'A teacher,' he thought. 'Damn, how long have I been gone?'
As if reading his mind, Scott finally spoke. "It has been five years, of course things are going to be different." Scott, someone the Wolverine could not come to terms with. Well, he had never tried, not really. There just seemed to be a clash of personalities when it came to these two. Logan noticed that his sleepwear seemed to fit him though, and was surprisingly similar to what he normally wore, simple gray sweatpants and a white t-shirt. Although Cyclops was wearing his usual ruby-tinted glasses, there was no doubt hatred for the Wolf man still lingered behind them. "Much has happened and if I were you I wouldn't be surprised if your little reunion doesn't go the way you hope." With that, he turned and started back down the hall.
"Butt out, One-Eye!" Logan chided to his retreating figure. Some things never change!
"Scott is right," Ororo cut in before Logan could come up with anymore 'brilliant' retorts. "Rogue isn't the same kid you left behind. In fact she is no longer a kid at all. She is twenty-three years old and has had many things happen to her, good and bad, that have made her grow up faster than most."
Logan looked pointedly at Bobby. Low and hard he spoke, "You better not have had anything to do with the bad or your insides will find out what the air feels like." Even though he would have said this to him before his revelation this time he actually meant it. If he had caused her any harm he would regret it instantly.
Bobby's eyes widened and then he started laughing hysterically causing the stitch in his side to flare up again. Logan raised a questioning eyebrow at his behavior. No one had ever laughed, outright or otherwise, at one of his threats. And they were not threats, more like promises. If he made a comment like that he would follow through, one way or another.
Finally, Bobby vocalized the answer to Logan's unasked query. "I'm - not - her - boyfriend," he said between fits. "I haven't - been - for years."
Things had begun to look up, at least that is what crossed Logan's mind. Marie not having a boyfriend was terrific luck. "Yeah, well, just proves she's better off without a guy for awhile." He had no idea why he felt the need to say something but regretted his choice of words as soon as they left his mouth. It made him sound weak, and the Wolverine was never weak, quite the contrary.
At that statement three things happened. First, Bobby's laughter abruptly stopped. Second, both he and Storm were wide-eyed and stiff. And third, Logan could smell the tension and anxiety pouring off the other two like water over Niagara Falls.
"What?" was all he could manage, not really wanting to know the answer.
Ororo stole a glance at Bobby before she dove into the waters she never wanted to tread in the first place. "You're partially right, Logan. Rogue doesn't have a boyfriend." The smile on his face could no longer be hidden and he closed his eyes as he breathed a sigh of relief. When the two of them had tensed so abruptly he thought for sure she had found a different boyfriend. Now he could go get some sleep and see her when he was refreshed and thinking clearly.
However, Storm was not finished with her explanation. "Logan?" she hesitantly prodded, causing his eyes to open and look at her directly. An immense fear, rare for Wolverine, suddenly coursed through him.
Once Ororo had Logan's attention again she finished, "She doesn't have a boyfriend because as of last night, he is her fiancé."