DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters present in my story. Marvel does. I am making no money off of this and I'm doing it simply for enjoyment.

Prologue

He was dying.

Pain wracked his body from a multitude of wounds and every heartbeat sent more of his blood pouring onto the ground,but it was worth it. He was still the best.

The man born James Howlett, once known as Weapon X, and now called Wolverine grimaced slightly at the stars overhead. He knew he was dying, and for the first time, he didn't care. He'd always claimed to be the best and now, he'd finally proven it.

He still had no clue whose idea it originally was, but he supposed that it didn't matter; all that mattered was that he'd been lured up here to his cabin where he'd been ambushed. Logan struggled mightily and finally managed to raise his head up high enough that he could see the battleground. The surrounding forest had been quite thoroughly destroyed and the ground torn up. From his vantage point, he could see pieces of Omega Red strewn about the recently formed clearing and Sabretooth's head in the lower branches of a nearby tree. He couldn't see Lady Deathstrike's body, but he knew that one of her hands was still lodged in his ribs.

Logan laid his head back down with a grunt of pain and let his mind wander back to what had happened upon his arrival.

The Wolverine arrived at the clearing where his cabin was located and immediately stopped. Something was very wrong. He breathed deep, taking in the scents in the immediate area and instantly identified one that made him snarl and prepare to unleash his claws. Strangely enough, Sabretooth's scent did not lead into the cabin, but away from it in a northerly direction.

Logan quietly put his pack on the ground and followed the scent, using every iota of his wood skill to silently stalk his long time rival. He followed the trail to a densely wooded area where it was impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction, including up. Something was definitely wrong; the woods were too quiet, no birds or squirrels were around.

"Whatsa matter runt?"

Logan whirled around at that, finding not Sabretooth, but Omega Red standing behind him. He glanced to his left and saw Lady Deathstrike slip out from behind a tree.

"He said that since ya always claimed ta be tha best, we should find out once and fer all."

The words came from his right this time, and Logan looked over to find that Sabretooth had decided to show himself after all. At that point, all three of his enemies attacked at once, and everything disintegrated into confused and fractured images...

After they had attacked, he fought as he'd never fought before, inflicting serious damage to Lady Deathstrike first, cutting off her hand at the elbow when her fingers got caught in his ribs trying to rip his heart in two. He didn't remember which order he'd killed them in, but he was sure that Sabretooth was the last. It was only fitting that it should come down to the two of them; after all, they had been through so much as both friends and enemies.

Unfortunately for Sabretooth, a mutant healing factor didn't handle decapitation very well, otherwise he might have won. After beheading Sabretooth, Logan had retracted his claws and wearily collapsed, covered in so many wounds that he would've been long dead if it wasn't for his mutant abilities. As it was, his healing factor only prolonged the inevitable: he was dying and nothing could save him.

Before he'd even encountered Sabretooth, he'd used the emergency beacon given to all X-Men to signal for backup, even though he'd known that whatever was going to happen would be over before they got to his location. At the moment, some of the others were undoubtedly in the Blackbird, flying to his deathbed as fast as they could to provide him with medical attention. Even the advanced Shi'ar technology the med lab contained wouldn't be enough to save him.

He contemplated the ones he'd be leaving behind. Of all of them, the one he would miss the most was Jubilee. He knew that she would be crushed to hear of his death, but she was strong enough that she would get over it and move on with her life. Of all the memories he had acquired during his long life, the ones of her were the fondest, even those where one or both of them were in pain. He would miss her even more than he missed his beloved Mariko, because Jubilee had been the best friend he'd ever had.

Logan sighed; he'd never gotten the chance to say goodbye to anyone he loved, and he knew that some of them would never forgive him for it. His vision began to dim and the stars faded from his sight. He knew that his time had finally come and Death was about to make one last visit, only this time it wasn't for one of his enemies.

But then something happened that he didn't expect. He heard footsteps, a heavy tread that he didn't recognize coming closer to where he lay. He no longer had the strength to look around, and he could no longer see anything beyond the tip of his nose. He heard a low chuckle, as if from a great distance even though the unknown person was only about fifteen feet away. As the footsteps came closer, a deep voice spoke out.

"Congratulations, James."

Logan tried to growl, snarl, do anything; he knew that inhuman voice and he wanted to tell it to fuck off and let him die in peace. He wanted to slip away, not struggle to find the strength to get up and die fighting instead of being at the mercy of this lunatic. The intruder came closer.

"I always knew that you would be the victor, James. Omega Red and Lady Deathstrike never had your skill, or your rage, and Creed never had your discipline. You have finally proven yourself to be the best and now you shall have your reward."

Strong arms gently picked Logan up off the ground and held him carefully so as to not damage him further. He tried to fight back, but all he managed to do was make a gurgling sound as blood filled his lungs. His arm dangled limp as the other carried him away from the carnage left from the fight, being careful to avoid trees and branches.

"Sleep now James, I will make everything better."

Logan closed his eyes and knew no more.

Jubilation Lee hurried through the mall as fast as the holiday shoppers would let her. She'd just received a call from Hank, and he'd told her that her Wolvie was injured, possibly dying. She had to get back to the mansion before Scott returned with Logan to meet him when he got there.

She'd been doing the last of her Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve in one of the local malls, agonizing over what to get Logan for Christmas when she'd gotten the call. Jubilee had left the store clerk confused as she hurried out of the sporting goods store she had been in, barely remembering to bring her bags with her.

All that was important was that she get back as quickly as possible, and the best way to do that was her car. It had been a present from Logan on her nineteenth birthday earlier that year, and if had more than a few modifications that were nowhere close to being stock. She was almost out of the mall when she caught sight of a flash of white light out of the corner of her eye. She turned to the small hallway where the pay phones were located and saw someone very familiar beckoning to her.

"Oh no, please, not now," she moaned, "Wolvie's hurt and I need to get back to the mansion."

Gateway ignored her comment and continued to motion for her to come closer. Jubilee sighed in defeat and went to see what the small man wanted. As she approached him he began to spin his 'whirlygig' as Wolvie had called it once upon a time, a sure sign that he was about to send her somewhere. The mall blurred and vanished as Gateway's bullroarer spun and he sent her to wherever he felt she needed to be.