W000T!!! A few days after Chapter 85, and here's Chapter 86 D!!! (Whew…finally had a little time off work )). Anywayz, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE FOLLOWING REVIEWERS: SKETTY24 (of course ;)), HUGHLOVERX, XMENLOGANFAN, FREAKAPPLE AND SNOW :D!!! It's wonderful to see new readers )!

Snow, thanks for the detailed insight )! I didn't find your review offensive at all ;)! In fact, you are right ). Heheh…my story does (and probably will continue to) deviate from the movie canon x.x. I think I had too much fun with the characters and decided to base some of their aspects and history from their comic book/cartoon/novel counterparts.

BTW, THE WOLVERINE MOVIE SPIN OFF IS COMING 2006 :D!!! W000T!! I wonder if he'll have more flashback scenes in it ;)!

Well, I hope you enjoy this one :D!

Chapter 86: The real dream begins

Yuriko quickly climbed on her bed. She lay down on her back and placed her arms straight down by her sides. Though the professor told her to be comfortable, she couldn't fight the tension that was churning within her stomach. There was anxiety within her heart, mixed with fear, curiosity, doubt and a hint of excitement. She was now only a few seconds away from uncovering the past that had been stripped away from her for the past fourteen years. She was now only seconds away from uncovering her true self.

Then she suddenly felt a sense of serenity and security as she saw Logan step by her side. He was looking down at her with a calm and encouraging look in his face. He placed his hands on the headset and gently motioned it towards her head.

Neither Yuriko nor Logan said a word as he placed the headgear on her. But their eyes looked into each other, gazed at each other, as if they were talking with them. He snuggly fit it on her head to make sure that it was secure. He remembered what the professor had told them earlier about importance of the headsets, and he wanted the procedure to go on smoothly without having any problems.

Yuriko nudged her head as she made herself feel accustomed to the feeling of the headset. She laid her head back on the bed and flexed her neck and shoulders. The headgear was actually more comfortable than she thought it would be. Though its exterior had a metallic look to it, the inside was mostly padded.

Logan continued to stare into her eyes, and she continued to stare into his. They were looking at each other as if this was the last time they'll ever see each other again. Then Logan sighed and gently patted her on the shoulder.

"I'll see you later, Yuriko." He said softly. His hand remained on her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll be here when you wake up, just like I promised you I'd be."

He didn't know why, but he felt like he was saying goodbye…like Yuriko was going to go somewhere. And in fact, she really was. She was going to go somewhere where he could never go. She was soon going to see things he would never see. And he knew that when she wakes up, she'll have so many memories he knew he would never have. But at least he would have her, and that was enough for him, because she was the best part of his past. And she was the only thing he needed from it.

"I know." Yuriko said with a gentle smile. "I know you'll be here, James." She could see a hint of sadness behind his tough exterior. Then she reached out and gently held Logan's hand, and she gave it an assuring squeeze. "Don't worry…the past will never change me. It will just complete me." She said softly.

Logan forced a very faint smile on his lips and he nodded his head. "And I can't wait to meet the complete you." He said firmly.

"I know she will love you in the same way that I do, Logan…maybe even more." When she said 'love', she meant it more in the friendship sense. Love was the only word she could think of to symbolize the connection and the bonding that they've had. "Because she knows you more than I ever will, and I know that she can't wait to see you again in the way that she remembers you." Yuriko was talking about the 'complete' her as if she was a completely different person, who led a completely different life.

He looked deeply into her eyes. And whether he admitted it to himself or not, he understood her…Because a part of him, something hidden within him, felt the same way about her. It was because of his past self who still lingered at the back of his mind. And he knew that that past self was the reason why he had grown so attached to Yuriko.

He gently pulled his hand away from her, and then he turned his head to look at the professor. "She's all set, Chuck." He said matter-of-factly.

Rogue continued to look on. She was now starting to understand what was really going on. She knew that Yuriko had also lost her memories when she went through the same project that Logan went through. And now, Yuriko was going to retrieve them with the help of Stryker's own memories. Rogue knew how important one's memories were, and that's why she understood Yuriko's decision to go through this procedure despite all the risks. Because if she was the one in Yuriko's place, she knew she'd do the same. She would do anything to retrieve her lost memories, no matter how bitter they might be.

Rogue's eyes suddenly turned to Logan. He was standing right next to Yuriko's bed. She could still remember how Logan touched the wall of ice that Bobby had created. Logan placed his hand over Stryker's as if he was a child reaching out to his father. When she first saw that, she actually couldn't believe what Logan was doing. He looked so vulnerable, so fragile, as if he wanted something so badly. And she was glad that when they asked Logan to come with them, he did, or they might have lost him forever.

"Very well, Logan." The professor replied.

Charles picked up his own headset and placed it gently on his head. And as soon as he did, the monitor of the console right next to him came to life. Brainwave patterns, lines and constantly changing numbers appeared on the monitor. It seemed to be monitoring the brainwaves and memory patters of both Stryker and Yuriko.

Yuriko's eyes suddenly widened and she felt her body tense up as she heard a slight ringing sensation in her brain. She felt as if another person was in there, whispering to her, digging through her brain as if her brain was made of sand.

"Calm down, Yuriko." The professor said softly. "It's all right. This device and the headsets that we are wearing will allow me to connect with you and Stryker's inner consciousness. It will allow me to combine your memories with his, and store those memories in your mind as you would have remembered them. It will also enable me to probe your mind to see if I could unearth some of your erased memories."

"Okay." Yuriko whispered. Though her whisper was too faint for the professor to hear, Logan, who was standing right next to her bed, heard her.

"Once the procedure begins, I will plunge you and Stryker deep into your own consciousness. And once I have stabilized your memory paths, you will see your memories, as if they were living movies in your mind. You will see them like they were happening today, or yesterday, or a second ago. Everything that you will see in your mind's eye will be crystal clear. You won't even tell the difference between the past and the present." He was talking, as if he was dictating rules of a game.

"You will once again relive your life, and see them with your own two eyes. I am not sure of what memories you will see. I regret that I might not be able to restore all of your past. But you will remember those memories that you truly desire to remember, the memories that still remain buried within you. You will often times find yourself jumping from one point of your past to another, but everything will happen in sequence. You will remember your earlier memories first, and jump further and further into the future."

Then the professor suddenly had a very serious look on his face, which was a sign of an impending warning. "But I have to warn you." He said sternly. "You cannot change what you'll see. You will see them, but you will not be 'in' them. You will not even feel that you are watching them. You can think of them as dreams…real dreams that have happened before. And another warning……"

"…Once your mind moves on to another memory, you must move with it. The two of you cannot stay in one part of your memory forever. Because if either of you fails to jump forward, I'm afraid that I might lose you. You cannot let your memories affect you, Yuriko. What you may see may make you feel as if you are truly in that memory…and that memory may make you feel as if you should stay there and live there forever. That is why you have to keep in mind, that none of what you're going to see is real. They are gone. They are past memories, and you are merely seeing them again."

Yuriko swallowed and breathed in. Something about what the professor had said scared her. "I understand." She said calmly.

But in the back of her mind, she was starting to doubt herself. Would she really be strong enough to face her memories head on? To separate what was real from what was not? And if she saw something that she wanted to hold on to, like a person, or a place, or a certain event in her life that she wanted to relive again, will she be strong enough to let it all go? Will she be strong enough to move forward and leave them all behind as nothing but distant memories? Or will she decide to stay trapped within those memories forever?

"Very well." The professor said. He was looking at Yuriko. "Now close your eyes. And relax yourself." Charles had a calm and serene tone in his voice. When he saw Yuriko close her eyes, he also closed his, then he breathed in and exhaled.

His shoulders drooped down as he placed himself in a relaxed mental state. His hands gently cupped the armrest of his wheelchair. He had to clear his mind of all thoughts, and concentrate on none other than Stryker and Yuriko. They were his main priority now. If he lost his concentration, he might lose them too. And even as a master of mental telepathy, he wasn't sure of the consequences of such a catastrophe. This was a procedure that had no room for errors. He was dealing with two human minds, two human brains, and brains were such fragile and complex things.

Yuriko glanced up at Logan for the last time, and in that split second, she saw him looking down at her with those piercing hazel brown eyes. His face was the last thing she wanted to see before she closed her eyes. He was the last thing that she wanted to remember before delving into the recesses of her mind, where another time, another life and another past awaited her. Then she closed her eyes, and relaxed herself.

She was now ready for whatever it was that she might see. She was now ready to accept the past she had never known. She was now ready to rediscover herself.

As soon as she closed her eyes, she suddenly heard the professor's voice whispering in her head. It was as if he was inside her mind. And his voice was so clear and so vivid, like he was really talking to her for real. She had never experienced a telepath's powers before, and this current experience sent shivers up her spine. She didn't know that telepaths were truly powerful enough to enter into one's mind like this.

/"Clear your mind of everything."/ Charles gently whispered. /"Relax."/ He said calmly. "I can feel fear in you, and I want you to drive that fear away."/ He said, in an effort to comfort her. /"I know you fear your past, and I understand that. But you can think this journey as your journey home…to yourself."/

/"Find your way home, Yuriko."/ Charles continued. /"Delve deep into your mind and find your way home. I need you to show me the way home."/

The professor's voice echoed deep inside Yuriko's head. His voice was so haunting and hollow, as if he was talking through a tunnel. /"What do you mean, find my way home?"/ She asked. She was talking to him within her own mind.

/"I…I don't know where to go."/ She added. She couldn't understand what the professor was trying to say. /"What home are you talking about? I don't even know where home is."/ She replied. And it was true. Ever since Stryker had brought her into this world as the mutant puppet known as Lady Deathstrike, she had never found a place that she could call home. The underground base in Alkali Lake was where she lived, but it was never her home. It was more like her prison cell, a prison cell where she could run free, trapped within her own soul, trapped within her own body.

/"Yuriko, try. I will not be able to lead you to your past if you cannot lead me to it. I need you to tell me where to begin."/ Charles requested. Even though he had already mentally mapped Yuriko's memory traces, she still had to bring him to the starting point. Charles knew that he couldn't do this alone without her help.

/"Home…"/ Yuriko whispered inside her mind. Her voice was now starting to echo like the professor's. It was starting to sound distant and fleeting, as if her voice was so far away from her physical body. /"I want to go home…"/ She said again.

Logan continued to look down at Yuriko's unmoving body. Her eyes were closed and she had never moved a muscle or uttered a word since she had closed her eyes. Then he looked at the professor. The professor was also in the same dream-like state as Yuriko. His eyes were also closed and he looked like he was sleeping. Logan hoped that the two of them were safe wherever they were now.

Then out of curiosity, Logan also looked at Stryker's lifeless body. But unlike the professor and Yuriko, Stryker's eyes were open, and they were emptily staring up at the ceiling above him. Logan still didn't care for the man, and he would never be able to accept Stryker as a former friend, but he hoped that Stryker's mind was still stable enough for Yuriko and the professor to go through the procedure unscathed.

"You think they're okay, Logan?" Rogue asked with a worried tone in her voice. She clasped her hands together and rubbed them nervously.

Logan looked at Yuriko again and breathed in. "She's with Chuck. She'll be fine." He said with an assuring tone in his voice. Professor Charles Xavier was the first person he had ever fully trusted in the past fifteen years of his existence. He trusted the professor with his own life, and he would even give his own for him. And now, the professor had Yuriko's life in his hands, and Logan knew that he would take good care of her.