"From ashes…" Ororo muttered.
Logan could not believe his eyes; he was currently staring at a very naked, very unconscious Jean. He took off jacket and wrapped it around her; he then picked her up and took off at a small, but desperate run towards the lab.
Once he got into the lab he put Jean down gently on the table in the middle of the room, covering her with a blanket, which did a much better job than his shirt had. Logan fumbled around with multiple things in the lab talking to himself. "I was never the doctor, what the hell does this do?" Staring at one of the many machines in the room, just as Ororo arrived.
"Logan you don't know what you're doing here, Hank will be here shortly, he at least knows a little about medicine, or so he said…" Logan growled at her, he had lost Jean once, there was no way he was loosing her again. Just as that though passed through his mind Mr. McCoy burst through the door. As soon as he had reached Jean he was already putting IVs in her arms and taking her pulse. Logan paced impatiently on the other side of the room, while Storm sat on the other contemplating what her return meant. What if it's still Phoenix? She thought, what do I mean what if? It is definitely still Phoenix, not Jean, not the woman she had grown to love as her sister, but the monster who had killed countless people and mutants at Alcatraz. She looked up feeling eyes burning on her, but when she glanced up no one was watching her, confused she looked at the floor once again before sagging against a wall and sliding down to the floor.
Ororo only looked up when she heard Logan cross the room, she thought about following him but decided soon after that there was no point, she knew where he was going, and he would not want to talk to her, or anyone for that matter.
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Logan walked down the hall towards the Danger Room; this was the only way to deal with his feelings, total concentration on something else. He set the room up, and walked inside. He found himself on a volcanic island, he appeared to be alone. This is weird, why am I alone? Just then he was shot in the arm with several arrows. Grunting he pulled them out and looked behind him. There was now an entire island tribe chasing after him, but these islanders seemed to be different. They had great big red balls for eyes and their skin shone like metal. Logan ran into the middle of them, in fact Logan had long since disappeared. Wolverine crashed through the crowd of islanders and ripped each and every one to shreds, grinning at the sound of clashing metal, they were probably made of steel, which was no match for his adamantium. He now stood amongst a sea of chords and sparks. Maybe I should have set the level higher, these bots weren't that satisfying. He turned around when a large thudding noise was coming from the ocean.
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Ororo glanced up at Hank, who had just reached for Jeans skin, but pulled his hand away quickly. Ororo, confused, got up and walked towards the table.
"What's wrong?" Hank looked at her and shook his head.
"Her skin is burning up, like it's on fire. I don't get why."
"Maybe it's the phoenix inside her."
"Perhaps, but I've never heard of a fever this high, it would kill an ordinary human."
"Yes, well I think we all know she is no ordinary human Hank."
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Logan looked towards the sea, it appeared he had spoken to soon, and as he turned he found a machine, much like a ball with legs on the shoreline. That's not too bad. Logan began to run at the contraption when a door opened on top, Sabretooth, or a clone of him, climbed out of the sphere. I see, this is what is supposed to make it difficult.
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Ororo stared in horror at a violently shaking Jean. This state only lasted for a few seconds, but none the less, it was still very concerning. "What happened?"
"It appears that all of this trauma is taking a toll on her brain and nervous system." Hank looked down at her, feeling her forehead, "she's not burning anymore, perhaps this is a turning point." Ororo brushed her hand across Jean's forehead, he was right, her skin was normal temperature now, perhaps Jean is fighting Phoenix. She sighed; they could only hope she was.
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Logan felt himself slipping away as he allowed Wolverine to take over, something he had become accustomed to in the past few months. He ducked as Sabretooth swung lazily at him, and buried his claws deep in his chest; he was then promptly batted out to what would be left field if he were a baseball. Wolverine quickly recovered and prepared himself for another oncoming attack, which was easily avoided with his speed and instinct. This time he plunged his claws into Sabretooth's back and twisted, it was clearly not going to be enough as sabretooth grabbed over his shoulder and threw Wolverine a good 50 feet. Alright I've had enough of this. Wolverine ran towards sabretooth claws bared with a feral grin. He lunged at the animal and implanted his claws into his chest, swung himself over sabretooth and stabbed him in the back; he then sliced through the tendons at the back of the knees and ankles. Sabretooth fell to the ground defeated. "Finally, simulation over!" He sighed as the square tiles of the room returned once more; he left the room breathing roughly. Out in the hallway he found Ororo.
"She was having seizures." Ororo looked at him cautiously.
"Seizures huh? What next?" Logan shook his head, he was having a bit of a problem pushing down and successfully caging Wolverine. Ororo became angry and opened her mouth to speak but Logan raised a hand to stop her. "Sorry, my beast is being a little bothersome." Ororo raised her eyebrows a little and spoke.
"Yes, seizures, she's been having them about every half hour." She crossed her arms on her chest and slid down the wall to the floor, where she found herself sitting a lot lately.
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Ororo closed the door behind her and fell to the floor, silently weeping. He had been gone for so long; it had been so hard for her. How can she forgive him? He had run away from his pain and suffering, but most of all, he neglected his responsibility, not even saying goodbye, or offering a small explanation. Rogue had once left for a week trying to find him, under the false pretense of 'visiting relatives.' The other students eventually gave her away, by accident of course, not realizing that she had entered the room shortly after they had started discussing it. Ororo had had to find her and bring her home herself, she had to do everything herself. Teach, watch over the students, of course she had minor help from Kurt and Hank, but nothing substantial that even came close to relieving some of the pressure put on her shoulders. There was nothing he could do to earn her forgiveness, not after what he did, not after he killed Jean.
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"For a while her skin was burning, almost like it was on fire, or at least close to it. Hank said her fever would have killed any normal human being." Logan ran his hands down his face and looked at the ceiling. "I know you're scared Logan." His eyes darted towards her.
"I am not."
"Yes you are I can see it in your eyes."
"So what if I am a little scared? I lost her once! What do you think it would be like for me to have to loose her again? I just can't, I can't lose her."
"We all lost her too." Logan glared at her.
"You never had to kill her." Ororo looked down and nodded as tears fell to the floor.
"I know, because you did it…" Logan leant a little closer in a threatening way.
"Are you blaming me for it?"
"Well, you did kill her." Logan couldn't believe his ears; he thought Storm was a little more intelligent and understanding than this.
"Yes I did, because she asked me to, do you have any idea what it's like to have some one that you love ask you to kill them? No I don't think you do." Ororo looked up speechless. "I suggest next time you decide to pass judgment on people, maybe you should get all the facts." Logan turned to leave, but noticed small rocks and dust particles on the floor were vibrating and floating in mid air, he turned around and looked at Ororo, who quickly got up and ran to the lab, followed closely by Logan.
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Hank was trying to prevent any of the flying objects from damaging himself or the expensive machinery attached to Jean. He was grabbing a few books as Ororo and Logan burst through the door. Jean was thrashing around viciously, Logan grabbed her and as quickly as he could and laid her down on the floor, she can't fall from the floor. Items were flying around the room in every which direction, it was impossible to catch them all, and even when you did catch one, you had to put it down to get another one, when you turned around the first one you grabbed was gone.
"I don't think grabbing everything is helping!" Logan yelled across the room to Hank.
"I know, but letting them fly around could cause damage to ourselves and Jean."
"Perhaps we could take the ones we catch out of this room?" Ororo suggested. And just as she did Jean opened her eyes and the books fell to the floor.
"Jean?" Logan asked. He walked over to her and looked into her eyes. He knew right then that they had their work cut out for them, he could visibly see Jean and Phoenix fighting for power, her pupils dilating to complete blackness, then recessing to pin points.
"Logan?" He cringed a little as he heard his name.
"Come on Jean you can fight her, you're stronger than she is."
"Tsk tsk honey, she is not stronger than me, I will return, and I will finish the job I started at Alcatraz!" Jeans body was convulsing lightly now.
"Jean? Can you hear me?"
"I'm trying, I'm not strong enough…"
"Yes you are Jean come on look at me, you can do this. Cage your beast." Logan watched as her pupils became normal size again and her body stopped shaking. "See? You did it."
"She'll be back, I can't hold her in, and she'll come back." Jean's eyes began to well up with tears, Logan held her close.
"Well then we'll just have to deal with her when she shows up now won't we?"