Next one..

Marie had spent the last few days making it her mission to move on. She had hoped that Logan would eventually see her as the woman she was but after that night two day ago, that dream had begun to wane.

It didn't help that Logan kept popping up asking what he'd done wrong. She kept telling him nothing and he kept cornering her in odd places that did nothing to delete the closeness of his face to hers in the library from her mind.

'What was going on with him?' First he got all territorial and then he'd be unapproachable then he'd be trying to hold her like the lover she wasn't. She was so confused and tired of his behavior that she'd resorted to just hiding out rather than deal with it.

She couldn't take any more disappointment or face the fact that he would never see her as anything but the scrawny kid he picked up all those years ago. So Rogue, she always thought of herself as Rogue when she had to do something difficult, had decided to concentrate on school and her lessons with Beast.

He was helping her to manipulate her powers and once she got that, she could begin to manipulate her feelings as well, at least she hoped. 'Do I really want to stop loving him? Can I? And if I control my powers, could that mean we could touch?'

Those thoughts chased themselves around her head destroying any of her progress. Marie cupped her head, already feeling the beginning of a horrible migraine taking root. She slid off her stool and padded slowly over to the slab that held the comatose Logan.

"Logan? Hon, what happened down there?" Marie asked, laying a gloved hand against his shadowed cheek in hope that he'd snap out of his coma and speak to her, if only to gruffly call her kid. She moved aside some wires, delicately climbed onto his bed and curled her small frame against his, "come back to me."

Falling into a fitful sleep, her mind replayed the chaos of a few hours ago.

Danger Room - Hours Earlier

Marie pulled away from the wall she'd nearly been thrown through when Storm had come barreling down the corridor. Whatever had happened had to be serious, Storm could be very forceful when necessary but she would never be violent.

Marie tore after, her boots lifting off the floor in her haste to catch up to the weather witch. She had been so worried she'd lose Storm that she hadn't realized she had started to glide rather than run. The danger room was dim by the time she came to it and there was barely enough light to see the two combatants.

Storm stopped abruptly causing Marie to crash into her. Beast completed the domino effect and all three tumbled onto the floor.

"What in heavens…" Beast's comment went unfinished.

The explosive sound of claws scraping ice echoed in the room at the same time as a blood curling roar echoed of the walls. Wolverine attacked Bobby again and again ignoring the many cuts and pieces of ice dangling from his abdomen, shoulders and other parts of his body. On particular large piece was embedded in his shoulder but all he did was rip it from his shoulder, flinging the bloody thing against its maker.

A sheet of snow decorated Bobby's combat boots as he attempted to hold back a Wolverine hard at work clawing at him. Beast was busy trying to override the controls while Storm shot at the doors themselves and open them manually. Rogue slammed into the reinforced glass separating the control room from the area below but the Professor had spent his money well and the three mutants could do nothing but watch helplessly as Bobby and Wolverine fought to the death.

"Why can't you stop hurting her? Why can't you leave and never come back." A wave of ice crystals flew through the air, nicking and taking bites of Wolverine.

The move only helped to enrage Wolverine further and advance on Bobby. He covered his eyes with his blades blocking most of the barrage of ice, the younger man was shooting and which only succeeded in eliciting more savagery from him.

It was obvious this fight had been going on for some time and both Bobby and Logan were tiring, especially Bobby.

With her heart in her throat, Marie watched as Logan reached his target and ferociously hacked at the ice form but it didn't matter nothing would protect Bobby from the adamantium claws that were about to be shoved deep into him.

"Stay away from her, she's mine. I've had her, she's my mate." Wolverine said and with strength born of desperation Bobby threw Wolverine hard into the wall stunning him. Bobby cradled his side and sending one last punishing blast at Wolverine knocking him out.

He crawled to the emergency override button and collapsed as the doors whooshed open.

Somewhere someone screamed, loud and high pitched and Marie realized it was her when Storm had to shout at her that Logan and Bobby needed her calm.

Marie raced ahead of Storm intent on getting to her friends within but her mind was too chaotic to make sense of the carnage. Blood and ice was everywhere and both Bobby and Logan's faces were covered in cuts, scratches and swelling skin.

She wanted to protect them both but she also knew that Bobby was much more damaged than Logan, whose healing would no doubt be working overtime.

Bobby was passed out and a puddle of blood was steadily forming beneath him. His frozen body was thawing out like a bizarre snowman, equal parts blood and ice. She knelt and applied pressure to his side but was then lifted on shaky legs, Storm moving her away to tend to him.

She wrapped her arms around herself and backed up against the wall. She was startled to find something warm in the frozen wasteland the danger room had become. Turning she came face to face with Logan. He was suspended from several icicles, a blue tinge around the wounds. She knew Logan, she knew Wolverine and she knew the punishments he could handle but this different. She had never seen him lose control like this and his shut down might have affected his abilities as well.

Unwilling to believe that he could actually die when she'd seen him survive a shot to the head, Marie still had to stuff her hand into her mouth to keep the hysterical cry from bubbling up to the surface.

She quickly regained her senses and got to work. "This is gonna hurt, so it's a good thing you're out, Logan," she uttered. She took her glove off and lightly kissed him. The pull was immediate but she took just enough for a single claw to emerge from her knuckles.

With a cry, she swiped at the icicles pinning him. They shattered under the force of her hit and gently she forced him through the stub left. He slumped to the ground, nearly crushing her with his dead weight. "Beast, please over here," she shouted.

Logan was half sprawled on her, his face buried in her chest. Once off her, he was levitated and carried to the infirmary, she chanced a glance at him but his face looked like pounded meat. His power was attempting to heal the overwhelming damage but it would take a while.

Students crowded the corridors but parted from the procession of wounded X-Men. Storm's anger had unleashed a torrent of rain and lighting unseen since the death of the Professor emptying the corridor of any students curious enough to follow them to the infirmary.

With the corridors clear, Storm was able to gaze at Rogue; the young woman's face was wiped of all emotion but her fear for Logan was palpable in the air. She would get to the bottom of whatever was going between Marie, Logan and Bobby and when she did; if Wolverine was responsible for this mess he would wish he was still unconscious.

Rogue anxiously walked behind Storm and Beast, who carried Bobby.

She ignored Storm's questioning gaze and locked her gaze on Logan's battered form, she needed to be strong because when he woke up; Marie would have to ask him why he had whispered he loved her.