ALPHA/OMEGA

Book Two

TWO

They were under attack. Monsters, huge and deadly, came at them from all sides. Suddenly, there was a shout. He turned to see the other person, his partner, being mutilated by a monster, then falling, crumpling. He was overcome by anger, grief, horror.

Logan sat up, panting. Since Alkali Lake, he still dreamed vividly, but now instead of nightmares about the procedures in the underground complex, he dreamed of battles and people he couldn't recognize. Sometimes he had companions, sometimes not. Sometimes, the dreams looked like movies about the past, and those he tried to write off as symptoms of 'too much TV'. Too often, the dreams involved looking at a dead body, and knowing that he was responsible for that death. But when the dreams turned really bad, they often turned to this one fight. Huge dark monsters, and the death of someone very important.

He often associated the dream with Jean. If asked, Logan couldn't have said what it was about Jean Grey that so attracted him. Somehow, he'd known she'd never give up Scott for him. Maybe it was her beauty, or her inhibitions, or her manner. He might have easily said it was her scent. She seemed so familiar to him when he first met her. He never reached out to people the way he reached out to Jean, emotionally. Maybe it was love. Maybe not. In hindsight, he couldn't really say.

Rising, he went though his waking routine of cracking every possible vertebra. He threw on a pair of sweats and a tee before sauntering out of his room. In the day and a half since the staff meeting, he'd spent most of his time in the small office beside the school gym, planning classes. It wasn't as hard as he'd expected. Kurt made an enthusiastic assistant, even volunteering to teach gymnastics to any interested students. They'd hit on a method of allowing the students to choose their own activities. It should allow the kids to stay interested.

Logan paused, glancing out the large picture window on the landing. A car he didn't recognize, a blue WRX with some enhancements, was parked in front of the mansion. He went down the stairs, noticing the students gathered about in the foyer, especially the giggling group of girls. Rogue was there, and she waved as soon as she saw him.

"Hey, Logan."

"Hey, kid."

"So, who's the new guy?"

Logan frowned. "What new guy?"

"Some new guy, an adult, just showed up in a tricked out WRX," Jubilee explained from behind Rogue.

"Redhead. CUTE!" The others chimed in agreement.

"Huh. Probably the new teacher. Which means he's too old for you," Logan warned, giving Jubilee a stern look. She just giggled.

"You knew? What's his name?" Rogue asked.

"Carl Grey." Logan walked away before that could sink in. Even so, he heard the escalating whispers as the students started the obligatory gossip grind. It was a small school, with everyone living together. The gossip mill was fast and effective. Soon everyone would know who the new teacher was, speculate on his relationship to Jean, wonder why they'd never seen him before, and so on and so on. Personally, as long as the guy wasn't a complete nut, Logan couldn't care less about him.

He spent the day in the gym again, making note of what equipment they had, what needed repairs or replacement, and what could be added. The underground compound had a complete weight room, but the gym did not. Logan talked with Kurt about getting free weights or a nautilus. They agreed that either would be useful, and Kurt promised to see the Professor about getting a purchase order for the equipment.

In the afternoon, Logan walked around the mansion grounds, enjoying a cigar. He spotted the Professor and another person seated near the memorial they'd erected for Jean. Not wanting to butt in, he took a left and went in a different direction. He assumed he'd meet the new member of this menagerie at dinner.

It wasn't until much later, almost midnight, that Logan realized he completely forgot about the new guy. He'd ended up driving Rogue and two other girls to a fast food restaurant for dinner. Half the students in the Institute didn't officially exist, or were run-aways like Rogue, making it hard for them to get licenses. He himself didn't even have one, but he never let that get in his way. Rogue had teased him about it.

"You'd have to decide, is 'Logan' a first name or a last name!" She'd joked, earning a growling response that he didn't mean seriously, and she never took it as such. Logan and Rogue had settled into an easy sibling relationship, which meant he sometimes had to put up with listening to her talk about Bobby too much, but he didn't really mind.

Wandering downstairs at midnight, too restless to try and sleep, unwilling to experience the nightmares again, he caught the sound of raised voices. Just as he reached the foyer, the door to Professor Xavier's office opened, and Scott stormed out. He gave Logan one glare, then brushed by him and headed up the stairs. Behind him, the office door didn't quite close, and light slipped out onto the floor.

Now curious to see what had gotten Scott into such a pissed-off state, and secretly admiring the skill it took to do that, Logan crossed the foyer to peek into the office. The desk lamp was lit, and he could see the surface of the desk strewn with paperwork. Next to the desk stood a man of average height, with short spiky reddish hair, staring out the windows into the darkness, his back to the door. Pushing the door open silently, Logan slipped into the room. "Hey," he said, shattering the silence.

The man jumped, spinning around and knocking a stack of folders on to the floor. "Jesus! Sorry, sorry!" He knelt quickly and gathered up the scattered papers. "You scared me half to death!" He chuckled, apparently amused. Placing the folders back on the desk, he turned fully to face Logan, but suddenly froze. With a startled and somewhat shocked expression, he said, "Gabriel?"