Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Marvel characters or any of the X-men. The same can be said of the wonderful world of J.K. Rowling. I am not making any profit, but simply having fun. I did however create Emma Winter.
Memories and dreams are in italics.
Edited in March 2021 during lockdown.
A few hours later Emma was startled awake from a deep sleep and looked quickly around in the darkness trying to understand what had woken her up. The little she did saw from the moonlight shining through the windows gave her no hint that anything was out of order. It took Emma a moment to realize that she was at Logan's cottage and that the mutant was snoring softly next to her, their naked bodies entwined in a tight embrace.
The witch pushed herself up on her elbows and decided to call for her wand that wasn't far away as she had tucked it away in the front pocket of her winter coat. The witch didn't want to stand up as that would wake up Logan and Emma was surprised that he hadn't woken already as his sensitive hearing was usually very acute. In reality, the fact that he hadn't stirred made Emma feel that something was amiss.
"Accio wand," Emma whispered and reached out her hand into the darkness. A moment later she could feel the familiar touch of her wand, the old companion she had had since she was eleven years old.
There was that sound again, a deep alarming growl that vibrated the entire cottage and filled her with terror. The rumble was coming from deep within Logan's chest, and the vibrations were so strong that she could feel his growl tremble through her body where she rested in his arms.
"Logan?" she whispered trying to get his attention, but the mutant didn't wake up. Her hand touched his warm arm to try to wake him and it surprised Emma that the subtle touch hadn't been enough to awake Logan who usually was always on high alert.
The deep growling boomed through the cottage, the only difference was that this time it was deeper and even more menacing than before. The sounds terrified her, but Emma wouldn't run off for cover without knowing if Logan could wake up. His growls didn't sound like a content sleeping sound, they sounded like someone was struggling or about to go into fits of rage.
"Logan are you ill?" Emma whispered as she peered over his form. The young woman settled her wandless hand on Logan's chest and feeling how clammy it was with sweat as his body laboured to get enough oxygen into the tired system. Logan's heart was beating wildly in his chest and she could feel the fluttering of his heart under her fingertips as they rested gently on his chest.
A few moments later she could hear the snarl again, filled with warning and menace that made the hairs at the back of her head stand on end. The situation getting worse each second and the witch knew she had to wake Logan up before something bad would happen. Her hand on Logan's chest vibrated with the rumble and Emma looked worriedly at her lover who seemed to be struggling in his dreams.
"Lumos," Emma whispered needing to see Logan better if he was well. A sharp light came from the tip of the wand that immediately filled the room and the witch looked to see his face that was set in a deep frown. His brows were pulled together, jaw clenched, and his teeth were grit in a snarl as sweat was dripping down his face and chest.
"Logan, wake up!" Emma said in a worried tone trying to get him out of the clutches of the nightmare but to no avail. The witch was familiar with how horrible nightmares could be and knew that she would want to be woken up if she was having a really bad one like Logan was struggling with.
"Logan you have to wake up!" Emma said louder moving her hand from his chest to his side in an attempt to rouse him and save him from the terror that he was experiencing.
The deep growl rumbled again from his chest and his body twitched in defence to her touch as if her hands somehow registered within the nightmare. Finally, Logan began to wake up to her touch, just not in the way Emma had hoped.
"No!" Logan finally yelled loudly while still very much in the clutches of the nightmare. The powerful mutant sat up like a bullet and the unmistakable sound of metal grinding on metal came from his knuckles as the huge adamantium claws shot outward.
Emma had realized too late that she had to get away from him. He had warned her in the past to get away from him if he got nightmares, and the witch realised she should have heeded his warnings. As soon as Emma heard the metal sound, she struggled to get away from him as quickly as humanly possible. Emma turned quickly to her side in an attempt to roll off the cot towards some shelter far away from Logan.
That being said, Emma didn't have a chance against the Wolverine, especially when it was in the clutches of a soul-crushing nightmare where only his animal side was awake.
The witch turned her back on Logan and tried to scuttle away from him, not fast enough it seemed when she could feel Logan sitting up next to her and roaring with the terror of the nightmare. A little further and then she would run to the door to get away from the danger that loomed in the air around her.
Nonetheless, she yelped in terror as the adamantium claws nipped into her upper shoulder, burning her with red hot pain down to her hip as the metal tore easily through fragile flesh. Before her mind registered what was going on her instinct had kicked, making her rush off the cot, out the front door and into the darkness.
Emma's bare feet didn't register the thick layer of snow that covered the property, nor did her brain feel the cold that had already started to bite into her naked skin. Emma had no idea where she was going, her instinct simply ordered the witch to run, and she ran for her life, her trusted wand in her hand in case anything else would happen.
Logan woke up with a roar and his claws ready to defend him from any attack imaginable. He had been struggling in the midst of one of the reoccurring nightmares that always ended with him waking up remembering nothing but water, coldness and pure terror. The mutant's mind was still in the shackles of the nightmare and it took him a long time to calm down enough to look around.
The cottage was dark and eerily quiet considering that Emma had been sleeping next to him. Looking around the cottage Logan couldn't see any sign of the witch, she wasn't anywhere to be seen and his sharp hearing didn't register her movements inside the cottage.
Logan's eyes stared into the darkness, he had a razor-sharp night vision that had often served him well. The front door was wide open, and Emma's scent was quickly leaving the cottage. Momentarily he was relieved that the witch had gotten away from his nightmarish hell until the scent of blood attacked his senses. It was not his blood; Logan had stopped noticing the scent of his blood a long time ago. The mutant looked down at his claws in dread and got a sick feeling to his stomach when he saw fresh blood smudged on his claws. Logan sniffed the blood to verify what he already knew; the scent had the same cinnamon scent that he always associated with Emma.
"Oh shit," Logan hissed in horror as he retracted his claws quickly back into his hands with a loud sound of metal sliding against metal. In the next moment, Logan was running out of the cottage to track Emma down. Logan's mind was filled with confusion as he tried to wrap his mind around what had happened before he had woken up. He was more than a little upset and worried about Emma who had run out like a terrified animal that to hide from danger. Logan knew too well what damage his metal claws could do to a person; he had sliced up enough people to know exactly how deadly they were.
Logan could immediately find Emma's footprints in the snow where they lead in the general direction of the dark forest. It immediately obvious to him that Emma had no real escape route in mind when she had run from the cottage; she had run on pure instinct that was to get as far away from Logan as possible. Even though Logan couldn't blame her for letting her instinct take over, it still saddened him that he had injured her to the point that the one he loved had decided to run from him. The witch's instincts were spot on Logan admitted to himself, but it saddened him that once again he had wounded someone he cared for.
As soon as he would find her, Logan would do his best to lay those fears down to rest, that he promised himself. Logan sniffed the air a few times; there was no need for him to look for her footprints, her scent mixed with the blood beckoned to the animal in him like a lit beacon at night.
Logan walked deeper into the dense forest, he could hear laboured breathing from the distance that made his heart twist with guilt and pushed him to run even faster to where the witch was. Her tracks were very obvious in the deep snow, especially since she had often stumbled to the ground but always managed to drag herself upwards again. Stains of blood were scattered around but Logan did his best to ignore them as seeing them cut into him and filled his heart with horror. The witch had not been thinking about covering her tracks that were quite obvious. Logan knew that Emma was fully capable of making it look as if she had never been there by using only a small portion of her magic. That she hadn't used her magic to hide from him, gave Logan some hope that he could somehow help her and mend their relationship.
At long last Logan spotted Emma huddled under a tree with her knees drawn under her chin. The witch was holding tightly onto her wand as if she expected the four horsemen of the apocalypse to come after her. Logan felt nauseous looking at the woman so upset and in defence against him. Logan knew he had injured her, but it still hurt to see the one he loved huddled against a tree, looking so upset.
The only positive thing he could see from the situation was the fact that Emma was still alive and had gotten surprisingly as far away from the cottage, meaning that she was less injured than he had first feared. Logan walked slowly towards her and deliberately made sounds loud enough to alert Emma of his presence.
Emma's head snapped in his direction at the sounds Logan deliberately made to alert her of his presence, and the witch pointed her wand towards the sound and asking with a raspy voice that had such a dark undertone that it struck Logan right in the heart. The witch was ready to kill if pushed too far, he could hear it in the cold tone of her voice when she called out, "who's there?"
"It's me darlin'," Logan replied trying to make his voice sound confident but cringing at the desperate tone that saturated his voice. It was more than enough that Emma's instinct was ready to kill whoever chasing her in the middle of the forest. He needed to calm the situation down before even more damage could be done to her.
"Show yourself," Emma replied with a shaky voice, that was speckled with suspicion, as she pointed her wand in his direction. The witch murmured something under her breath that Logan didn't catch and a second later her wand gave off a bright light as if it were daytime and not the middle of the night.
The couple stared momentarily at each other in total silence, and Logan wondered why Emma hadn't blasted him with her wand as soon as the witch saw him. Logan stepped slowly a few steps closer to Emma and the cracking sound of the snow from under his feet broke the silence. Finally, after what felt forever, Logan crouched down to his knees in front of her, making himself as small and unthreatening as possible to her.
"What happened before?" Logan asked forcing his voice to a soothing tone as if he were trying to calm down a terrified animal. Emma's eyes skittishly looked around before finally searching his and holding his gaze steadily as she answered, "I woke up to eerie sounds, you were having a nightmare and I tried to wake you up."
"Didn't quite work out to the way you planned?" Logan asked gently and watched as her wand arm started to shake worryingly and showing just how upset she was. Emma quickly turned from his gaze and hid her face under a mane of curly hair, but it didn't fool him, the scent of salty tears saturated the air around them. Logan shifted uncomfortably; tears were never something he could deal well with but he wished she'd rather bawl her eyes out than to look at him with wildness in her eyes that signalled that she might sprint away from him at any moment. He had worried constantly that something would happen, but never would he had imagined that he would injure the witch like that.
"No... I wasn't thinking," Emma sniffled confused and her dark eyes bore into his so confused that he felt his heart shatter at the sight.
"Darlin just put the wand down. I'm awake now and I won't hurt you. You're safe with me," Logan said with more feeling than he thought possible. The mutant would grovel for forgiveness later but first, he needed to see how badly injured the witch was.
Intellectually Emma knew that Logan would never want to hurt her and that he wanted to help her. It was the same Logan that loved greasy hamburgers and to make her laugh. However, the mutant also had huge metal claws that could slice her in and a part of her had difficulty putting that knowledge aside.
The desperate pleading in Logan's eyes finally persuaded the witch to relent and put her wand down on the ground by her side in defeat. Emma's instinct still roared at her to run but her heart stopped her as she remembered all the love the two had shared.
Logan released a breath that he hadn't known he had been holding as Emma suddenly started to relax. To know that she had been thinking of blasting him again with that stick of doom hurt even if he deserved it. The last time when she blasted him, he flew almost through a reinforced concrete wall. Emma had told him later that certain spell wasn't that powerful after all so he had been curious to see what she would call a real blast. However, now was not the time to explore her magical power or his resistance to injuries due to his mutant abilities.
He knew Emma was in pain in the way she sheltered her side from touching the tree trunk. That came as no surprise, but it had been a terrible accident, one that he would hope would never happen again. Logan knew he could have killed her on the spot and Emma knew exactly how dangerous he was and when Wolverine came out to play people had to be careful or they would get a one way trip to the city morgue.
Logan sat down next to her resting his back firmly by the tree before snaking one arm around her and grabbing her into a tight embrace that showed just how worried he had been. Emma's reaction was colder than he had hoped for but she still didn't struggle to get out of his embrace. Logan took a deep breath and his nostrils filled with the scent of blood. The harsh reminder worked instantly to alert him to how close he had been to losing her.
"Don't you ever do something stupid like that again!..." he growled at her and feeling his temper flare.
"… if you ever see me having a nightmare then get out of the room, don't try to wake me and just get the hell outta there! I could have killed you and I'm so very sorry," he snarled, angrier by the second at himself. No one knew better than him just how badly this could have ended, and he shuddered at the thought. The night might have ended with Emma dead in his arms.
"I know now," Emma mumbled into his chest as she felt the fog of pure terror leave her mind as he engulfed her in a dominant embrace that told her just how afraid he was for her and how happy he was to find her in one piece.
"Em, how much damage did I do?" Logan asked quietly with a worried tone knowing he would go mad if he didn't know just how bad it was.
"Damage?" Emma asked in a haze as if she had no idea what he was talking about. Logan rolled his eyes and tried to control the impatience within him. The witch was in shock due to the incident; he couldn't find any other explanation for her slow reflexes.
"Yeah, when I got you with the blades, I saw blood when I woke up."
"It's all right Logan, I was more scared than anything" the witch mumbled sleepily into his naked chest and the mutant gave her a worried glance. The witch looked as if she was passing out and he couldn't allow that to happen.
Logan ended the hug and pushed Emma's wand back into her hands.
"What do you want me to do?" Emma asked and looked more alert than a few moments earlier. The witch didn't look good, her face was too pale in contrast with her dark hair and eyes.
"Put that light on again, I wanna see where I got you," Logan said pushing her onwards as the blood scent was making him highly uncomfortable.
Emma put the light on and waited silently for his verdict. The mutant scanned her body; finally, his eyes settled three slashes on her back that were covered in blood. Logan took a shaky breath feeling disgusted with himself. He was such an animal that the woman he cared so deeply for had been forced to hide in the forest in the middle of the night because of him. It was only a miracle that she hadn't been killed by him.
"How does it look?"
"Your back looks like chopped liver but don't worry about the scarring, Hank will do his best to stitch the gashes up for us," Logan grumbled angrily and felt the self-loathing almost smother him the longer he looked at the wounds and the blood that was smeared on Emma's alabaster skin. Furthermore, he noticed that Emma was begun to shiver dangerously as her skin got colder and the shock took over. Logan was not only worried about her wounds anymore but also her naked body that was freezing in the cold night air.
"Be still, I will take you to the cottage and from there we decide what to do," Logan explained to her and hoping that this time, only this time she would comply without too much of a struggle.
Emma ignored his outstretched hand as she pushed herself upwards before hissing in pain as she struggled to stand. Logan glared at her angrily before stomping deeper into the forest. He hated himself for hurting her and Emma annoyed him beyond words for not wanting his help when he offered it. Perhaps the witch was already rejecting him because of what had happened, and the pain almost suffocated the mutant at the thought.
The mutant glanced worriedly back at the woman who had stubbornly refused his help, the witch was getting slower in her steps and a grimace of pain had etched her features. Logan sighed deeply, turned on his heels and walked swiftly up to Emma. Instead of spending time arguing with the stubborn witch, he took her by surprise by quickly grabbing her and throwing her ungracefully over his shoulder. The mutant then walked quickly towards the cottage and not listening to Emma's protests as she called to her wand that returned to her hand immediately. Logan felt that Emma was his responsibility as he had injured her, and he would do his best to make things right again after fucking up so royally.
He thought back on a similar circumstance when he had had a nightmare and Rogue had come in to wake him without realizing the danger. Seconds later she had four adamantium claws embedded into her right lung. If not for her mutation of absorbing powers, that time Logan's healing power, Rogue would have died. Instead, she almost killed Logan as she took away his essence momentarily and sending him into a coma for a few days. A fair-trade Logan thought, after all, he almost killed her.
His only worry was to get Emma in one piece to Hank's infirmary to have the wounds stitched up before she would bleed too much. After that he and Emma could have a long discussion on their relationship and the level of trust that was needed for their unusual romance to survive.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing! Put me down right now," Emma hissed in a shrill voice before trying to hit the mutant with her weak fists. Logan ignored her protests and knew he wouldn't put her down until inside the cottage where he could help her further.