~2008~
**Sacrifice**
Friday night was movie night, and it was the best night of the week. Students and X-men alike piled into the rec room to watch a DVD on the big screen TV. Beast was sure to make a huge batch of buttery popcorn, and there was lots of pop for the kids and beer for the adults. It was a quiet respite from the demands of study and super hero duties.
This particular Friday was a movie marathon of the first three Star Wars movies, back to back. It was eleven thirty, and they were almost finished with the 'Return of the Jedi.' Some of the adults had given up after 'The Empire Strikes Back,' and just went to bed. Beast had some research he was reading through, so had volunteered to baby-sit Logan and Dani's five year old daughter, Andromeda. Everyone called her Andi for short, and she was a sweet kid. She got lots of attention from students and adults alike, but still managed to not behave like she was spoiled.
Beast put the bookmark in his book and quietly opened Andi's door to check on her. She was peacefully sleeping, and Beast just smiled. Most mutants didn't exhibit any differences from normal humans until puberty, but he could just swear that Andi was purring like a cat. She must get that from her dad.
He closed her door softly, and walked back to his chair in the sitting room of the Logan family suite. It was a nice set up, a sitting room, two bedrooms and a spacious bathroom. Scott and Jean had a similar set up, but had not needed the second bedroom just yet. Rogue and Gambit took over Scott and Jean's old quarters, and Ororo and Kurt had a spacious room on the third floor, closer to the Goddess' rooftop garden.
Their family was always growing and changing, bringing in new youngsters, and training them for an always uncertain future. Beast loved it, and everyone here. He was glad to be a part of this strange family of Xavier's. Over the years since he had been there, they had gone on countless missions, and come very close to losing team members often. They had been very fortunate to always manage to come through it without losing someone. Hank opened his book and heaved a heavy sigh. He hoped their luck would hold. He couldn't bear the thought of losing a single member of this family.
*****
Logan sat in the middle of the couch with Dani in his lap. Scott and Jean were in much the same position on his left, and Remy and Rogue on his right. Dani had fallen asleep in Logan's arms and he hugged her close. The movie was finally rolling the credits and Scott decided it was time for lights out.
"All right everyone, gather up your pillows and blankets and get to bed," he said with a yawn. He and Jean got up and headed up to their room.
Logan nuzzled Dani's cheek and whispered, "Hey, baby, you missed the happy ending."
"Hmmm? It's over?" she asked sleepily.
"Yeah, let's go to bed," he said and kissed her.
"Oh, get a room," Bobby said with a smirk as he rolled his eyes.
"Shut up, Bobby," Rogue said. "I think it's sweet," she added as she ran her gloved fingers over Remy's cheek.
"Yeah, ignore dat boy, Logan," Remy said. "He's just jealous."
"Humph," Logan grunted and kept kissing his wife. When his hands started roaming over her, Rogue spoke up.
"A-hem. Dani, will you take nature boy back to your room before he gets carried away?" she said humorously. There was an instant flash of white and violet lights, and the amorous couple disappeared.
"All right, Scott said 'go to bed,' so go to bed," Remy said as he and Rogue got up.
Finally, the last of the students went to bed, and the mansion was quiet.
*****
Beast saw the flash of light under their bedroom door and started gathering his books to head off to bed. A moment later, Logan stuck his head out of his bedroom.
"Thanks, Hank, I owe you one," Logan said as he stepped into the sitting room.
"Did you enjoy the marathon?" Hank asked with a smirk.
"I never used to like that Sci-fi stuff before Dani," he said shaking his head. "But that Star Wars is okay I guess."
"I liked that series myself," Hank said. "I sort of relate well to Chewbacca," he said with a chuckle. "I can see you as a bit of a Han Solo."
"Maybe if he had claws," Logan said with a smirk. "You have any trouble with the squirt?"
"Andromeda was a perfect angel," Hank said. "But I do tire of her relentless proclivity for The Wiggles."
"Pansies," Logan said in annoyance. Andi loved them, and he hated them. They were worse than that stupid purple dinosaur.
"It is amazing the things a parent will endure for the love of their child," Hank said as he headed to the door.
"Ain't it just?" Logan chuckled. "Night, Hank, and thanks again."
"Goodnight," Hank said and left.
*****
It was the dead of night when the Sentinels came. There were three of the immense and powerful robots towering thirty feet tall. Xavier sent out the mental warning to all the residents as soon as the threat registered. There had been barely enough time to get the students to the safety of the tunnels as the X-men rushed outside, still in their pajamas, to meet the intruders.
"Dani, get Andi down to the tunnel, and get back up here quick!" Logan yelled to his wife as he ran out the front door. *Snikt!*
Dani orbed their five year old daughter down to the tunnel entrance where Professor Xavier was ushering the children inside. Beast, Kurt and Jubilee were helping to keep the children calm and gathering up the stragglers.
"Mommy, what's wrong?" Andi's sleepy frightened voice asked.
"Mommy has to help keep our home safe, and Uncle Charlie is going to keep you safe," she said with a smile. "Please take care of Andi," Dani said to the professor, and then kissed her daughter's forehead and disappeared.
Uncle Charlie. There's a nickname he didn't want to have get around.
When she orbed outside the scene was worse than she'd thought. Logan and Gambit were working on one sentinel while Cyclops and Storm were working on the other. Jean and Rogue had their hands full with the third, and that one was clearly looking to break into the mansion. Defending the students was priority number one, so Dani decided to help Jean and Rogue.
Dani orbed herself onto the shoulder of Jean's sentinel, and searched for the energy source. She quickly found it and began draining it. The sentinel tried to grab her, but Jean used her telekinesis to shield her. The energy source was much stronger than Dani had anticipated and the overload was painful. It was obvious that the energy drain was causing it to slow down and lose aim.
"Let it have a good shock," Rogue shouted to Dani. "I think it'll finish it off."
Dani reversed the energy stream, flooding the energy back into the sentinel's control circuits effectively frying them. There were several internal explosions, and the robot fell backwards onto the lawn. Satisfied that it was finished, Jean went to help Scott and Storm, and Rogue went to help Remy and Logan. Dani paused to compose herself after the massive energy intake.
Logan spared a quick glance to make sure his wife was okay and then went back to work on his robot. He was playing decoy to allow Gambit to get close enough to touch the robot. If he could just cram a few charged cards into the joints of the legs, or any of the joints for that matter, they could bring it down and finish it off. Rogue flew around its head to cause a distraction, and was hit by an energy burst that was so powerful it rendered her unconscious. She plummeted to the ground, and Dani orbed to her. Dani checked her, and decided she was okay, and orbed her into the mansion. When Dani orbed back outside, she could see they were in trouble. Logan and Gambit had brought their robot down by blowing one of its legs off, but it was still blasting away, and grabbing for them.
The other sentinel had Jean in its hand, and Scott was trying to take it down with a well placed optic blast, but its armor was deflecting the energy. Storm was trying to use lightening on it, but the robot was unfazed. It was concentrating its power on the ground, and Dani realized it was trying to break into the tunnel to get the children. It had to be stopped at all costs.
Dani had an idea. She reached out to Jean, 'Everyone concentrate on the damaged one, and I'll take care of this one…'
'No, Dani, this one is different, there's something not right here…' Jean protested, but Dani had already made her decision.
Danielle orbed herself onto the sentinel's back and orbed the robot to the center of the lake behind the school, leaving Jean behind to help deal with the other one. Storm followed Dani while the rest of the team finished off the crippled one. Dani started draining the power source and the energy overload was too much. She felt like she had absorbed pure fire. She let out a blood curdling scream as the searing pain penetrated every inch of her body. The sentinel shorted out, from the combination of power surges and water, and it collapsed into the lake taking Dani down with it.
"Danielle!" Storm yelled as she watched her friend disappear under the water. She flew closer to search for her, but before she could see her, there was a huge explosion that threw her back a good thirty feet. By the time Storm could regain her composure and return, Dani was gone.
Logan ran out of the woods and stopped. He started searching the burning debris that littered the bank. "Dani!" he howled in full blown panic. "Dani, please!"
"She's…she's gone," Storm said in utter shock as she landed beside him.
"She must've orbed back to the mansion," Logan reasoned. "She'll be there, she was maybe hurt, but she'll be there, she'll be there, I know she'll be there…" he kept repeating as he ran back to the mansion. She just had to be there. Please, God, let her be there.
Storm stared in horror at the water as it boiled on the surface. She had never lost a teammate before, but as horrible as she felt, it would be nothing compared to the man that just ran back to the mansion. She prayed his assumption that Dani orbed to safety was true, but she saw the explosion. Storm flew back to the mansion as tears began to stream down her face. Dark clouds gathered unbidden as a low rumble of thunder announced the arrival of a sudden rain shower. Storm couldn't stop it if she'd tried; the sorrow was just too much.
*****
Several hours later, at the mission debriefing, Xavier's expression was pained. "I know we were unable to find any trace of her body, but Cerebro confirmed it, there is no doubt, she is truly gone," Xavier said gravely.
Logan sat speechless. He felt numb with shock. "No," he said so softly that only the telepaths picked up on it. He stood up and calmly walked out of the war room without another word. Logan had endured the most horrible experiments imaginable. He'd been close to death too many times to count. He survived more physical suffering than most people could imagine. But none of it compared to this searing pain in his heart. This time he didn't know if he could make it. Losing Dani was going to break him. His life was over. Everything good in his life was gone, and he was empty inside. All the softness Dani had put in his heart was replaced with the mind-blowing pain of her loss.
As Logan headed to his room, Jubilee stepped into the hallway. "Logan, Andi fell asleep on my bed," she said softly. "I'm really sorry about…"
Logan waved her off and walked quietly into her room to retrieve his daughter. He gently lifted the little curly haired angel off the bed and carried her back to his suite. Jubilee wordlessly opened and closed the door for him. She stared at the door for a while when Bobby found her.
"You heard?" Bobby asked quietly.
"Everyone did," Jubilee answered solemnly.
"Poor little Andi," Bobby said as he walked Jubilee back to her room.
"Poor Logan," she said.
*****
Logan cradled his sleeping daughter in his arms, clinging to her for comfort. She was all he had in the world now. Andi was his precious little girl, the child that Dani gave him. He smiled down at her. She was so like her mother, curly light brown hair and violet eyes. As long as he had Andi, he had a part of Dani. It almost made his loss bearable …almost.
Logan put his daughter to bed and went to his own, now too lonely room. He tried to ignore the sweetness of Dani's lingering scent as it invaded his nostrils, but he could no sooner hold back the sea. The tears came like a flood as he fell on the bed, sobbing. His mate, his soul, his wife was dead.
*****
Xavier was sitting in his office, completely overcome with grief. He carried not only his own grief, but the projected echoes of everyone else's grief as well. He sat with his elbows on his desk supporting his forehead on his hands. He'd lost a member of his family, one of his precious X-men. He grieved for Dani, but he grieved even more for the family she left behind, a husband and child. Logan, for all his gruff exterior, was really very fragile.
It was at that quiet moment of reflection that he heard it. The distinct howl of a lonely wolf. It was not off in the forest, or beyond the distant hills, it came from inside the mansion. Charles lost the last shred of his emotional control and cried. His team would never be the same.
