Logan only half-listened to the conversation during the short trip to Okatibbee Lake in the jet.
"Professor, were you able to get a read on her?" Scott asked into his headset. He and Storm were up front, piloting.
"Yes, she does seem to be at Okatibbee Lake. Mystique is there, as well." The Professor's voice was filled with static, as it came out through the jet's main speakers.
"Can you get a read on why she's after Mystique?" Kurt asked, who sat next to Logan. The young mutant had been tense throughout the entire trip, but seemed on the verge of panicking now.
He may have wanted nothing to do with his mother, but Logan could tell he didn't want her dead, either.
And he nor Logan wanted Marie dead. The thought made Logan's heart race and he shoved the ugly imagery away.
"It's still very hard to access her thoughts. What I can pick up is anger, and a lot of it. Did Destiny say why she was looking for her?"
Scott gave a sideways glance at Logan. Logan glared right back at him.
"No, we didn't get the chance to really question her."
"I see," was all the Professor said.
Logan turned his attention back to the window, already feeling the jet decrease in altitude as it neared the lake. He could think of a lot of reasons why Marie would want Mystique dead. He knew about why she was older than she let on to the others; he knew the shit they had put her through to make her see herself as poison to the world.
He wanted to kill Mystique for it, so he could only imagine what Marie wanted to do to her.
The question, however, was why now? What had his and Marie's interaction with each other done to make Marie think killing Mystique was the answer?
If that was indeed what she was trying to do.
If not, Logan surmised, it was possible that she wanted information. Perhaps she knew Mystique had answers that would help her control her mutation.
Even if Mystique did, she'd never tell her.
Which led Logan's thoughts back to the possibility of Marie dying.
Logan felt the jet jolt a little and realized they had landed. Outside his window it was pitch black except for the soft glow of the moon, somewhat masked by clouds.
He unbuckled his seatbelt and was the first to the door, lowering the ramp and running down it before it had fully descended. Kurt followed close behind him, the others still lagging.
Outside he could see that they had landed in a small clearing surrounded by trees. Letting his eyes adjust to the gloom of the night, Logan could see it was actually a park. A swing set and sandbox could be seen a couple yards to his left.
"Vhich vay?" he heard Kurt ask, waiting for Logan to make a move.
Logan used his nose do the guiding, taking a couple deep breaths of his surroundings in. He couldn't smell Marie yet, but he caught the scent of exhaust and motor oil that he knew all too well. He looked around for the nearest road and saw it, not far beyond the playground.
He took off, Kurt and the others not far behind him. He made it to the road, took another sniff, and headed north.
He ran about a block, hearing nothing but his footsteps and heavy breathing, with a course of footsteps and heavy breathing behind him. Just as he thought that his nose had failed him, and that he might of caught the scent of another motorcycle, he was blessed with the strong smell of Marie.
He stopped abruptly, taking in the scent deeply. He grunted when he felt Kurt run into him, not being able to stop his progression as quickly as Logan had. He could only hear his teammates gasping for breath, so instead tried to focus solely on his olfactory senses.
"Logan?" Jean finally asked. Her voice was low, as it was deathly quiet outside.
The trail went distinctly left, straight to a batch of trees off the road. Logan ran up to it, sniffing around as the scent got stronger. He quickly went around the tree and found Marie's motorcycle. It was cool to the touch, which meant the engine had been off for some time.
The trail went further up, but Logan only had time to look ahead and notice Marie's jacket on the ground before he heard the painful wail of a woman.
"There's a cabin up there!" Storm exclaimed, pointing up to a hill about thirty yards away.
Logan was already running in the direction of the sound before he had time to process the cabin, hidden by the shadows of trees surrounding it. There were no lights on in the house, but he was positive that was where the cry had come from.
As he neared the darkened lodge he located the front porch and bounded up the steps, slamming the screen door open without hesitation. He had recognized the voice of the cry.
Mystique.
It was darker inside the cabin, but his heightened senses allowed his eyes to adjust quickly and he saw the blue shapeshifter kneeling on the ground. His brow furrowed at the figure looming over her, her hand wrapped around Mystique's neck.
It was Mystique.
Logan heard Kurt and the others reach the porch, and a couple of flashlight beams made their way inside the house. The lights confirmed Logan's observation.
Mystique towered over Mystique, the latter kneeling and holding her side where blood freely flowed. On the floor next to her lay a bloody dagger.
The injured one cried out again, but this time much weaker. The Mystique standing over her had her free hand grasping her head, face contorted in pain.
And then suddenly it wasn't Mystique standing there; the blue skin turned into ivory, and the red hair grew white streaks.
Marie was now standing above Mystique, one hand touching Mystique, the other seizing her head.
"Where is it?!" Marie yelled, her voice raspy.
Logan had been frozen where he stood, but the sound of Marie's voice snapped him out of it. He ran towards the two women, coming up behind Marie and wrapping his arms around her clothed waist, pulling her away from Mystique.
Mystique instantly slumped to the ground, unconscious. Logan tried to hold onto Marie, but she shapeshifted into Mystique again, causing Logan to lose his grasp.
Marie-as-Mystique stepped away from him and fell to her knees, both her hands now clenching her head. He circled her so he could face her.
"Marie?" he said, forgetting that they had an audience.
"I can't find it! Everything's so jumbled!" she screamed in Mystique's voice, her eyes on the ground. She shifted again, this time into a little girl. Her hair grew longer and tumbled over her face, the white streaks glowing in the moonlight.
It was Marie as a child.
She screamed again, and the sound was more torturous than ever coming from a small child. Her hands clutched her head pitifully, and she shook it as if something had decided to take residence in there.
Logan reached out to touch Marie's shoulder, but she shifted again and became Destiny.
"It's in here! It has to be!" Marie-as-Destiny cried out, her face finally looking up at Logan.
Even through the dark glasses Logan saw the look of surprise on her face, and he watched with fascination as she slowly morphed into the Marie he knew and loved. Her eyes were wide, streaks of mascara running down them from both sweat and tears. She slowly removed her hands away from her head, leaving her hair a tangled mess.
She was beautiful.
"Logan?" she finally questioned, her voice breathy.
"I'm here, darlin," he reassured. Her eyes stayed on him for a moment longer, but trailed behind him to the rest of the X-Men standing behind him. She remained silent, looking at each of them until her eyes fell upon Jean.
"Help me find it!" she cried to Jean, her calm demeanor gone in a flash. "Please!"
Jean looked at the scene before her with nervous eyes. "Help you find what, Rogue?" Her voice trembled slightly.
Jean, let me try and help her through you.
The Professor's voice seemed to boom in Logan's ears, and he watched as the rest of the X-Men reacted with the same surprise. The Professor was letting his voice be heard by everyone.
Jean hesitated only slightly before nodding and taking a step forward toward both Logan and Marie.
"Okay," she finally answered the Professor.
Marie seemed to be only looking at Jean, her breathing ragged. She didn't seem to have heard the Professor as Logan and the rest had, and had taken Jean's response as an answer to her own plea. He watched as Jean came forward next to them, kneeling down with Marie and bringing her hands up to either side of Marie's head.
"Don't touch me," Marie warned. Her body momentarily shifted into Mystique again, but she seemed to stop it and reverse it before it had time to take over her.
"I won't, Rogue. The Professor's going to try and help you." Jean closed her eyes, her hands still hovering inches away from Marie's head.
Marie watched her, silent.
And then she cried out, not shrill as before but low and deep—more painful than frustrating in sound. Her hands went up to her head again and she bent all the way forward, her head nearly coming to rest on the ground.
Logan growled. "What're you doin' to her?!" he reached out to grab one of Jean's outstretched hands.
"Stop!" Jean yelled at Logan through clenched teeth. "The Professor, he's ... he's trying to help her find Mystique's control!"
Logan stopped himself, but another moan from Marie was beginning to make his blood boil. "What the hell is he doin' that's hurtin' her?!"
Jean didn't answer this time, her teeth grinding in what would look like a growl if it weren't for how tightly her eyes were clenched shut. Logan looked at her, then back to Marie, whose groans had become louder.
"Find it, please...." she murmured, her voice muffled with her head so close to the floor.
Then, in one swift motion, Jean and Marie both cried out: Jean fell backwards, catching herself with her hands, and Marie sat up into her prior kneeling position, hands going from her head to wrap in front of her chest, as if she was cold. To add to that assumption she shivered, but remained Marie.
Jean, breathing heavily, looked at Marie concernedly. "The Professor, he—"
"He found it," Marie interrupted, looking to the ground. She paused and took a look behind her at Mystique's still form. "She needs medical attention." Her voice was void of emotion.
Logan sniffed the air and looked down to Marie's thigh, seeing blood flowing out of a huge slash. "So do you," he said, coming towards her.
She flinched away from his touch. "Don't. Touch. Me," she said through gritted teeth.
Storm went around them to check on Mystique. "She's alive," she said, her fingers on the blue woman's throat. "Barely."
Marie flinched at the last remark and tried to stand. Her injured leg didn't seem to be responding well, however, and she stumbled a little before Logan quickly stood and caught her.
Marie tried to shove him away but was too weak. "She didn't want to kill me," she said, her voice cracking slightly.
"What?" Logan asked, confused. He shrugged off his jacket and placed it around Marie's bare shoulders since she was trembling pretty violently.
"She didn't want to kill me!" she yelled this time, the last two words barely formed as tears began to cascade down her cheeks. "She used meh, made meh a slave to Apocalypse, but never wanted meh to get hurt—and Ah killed her! Ah stabbed her, Ah took everything from her!" She was openly sobbing now, her hands scrunching Logan's shirt so tight her knuckles looked ready to pop out of their skin.
She was yelling at him, but her eyes were distant—she was looking right through him.
"Logan, she's in shock," Storm warned as Kurt and Scott lifted Mystique and began carrying her back to the Blackbird.
Marie didn't seem to hear. "Ah invaded her mind to get her control ... the one thing she had hid from everyone, and Ah stole it from her!" Marie chocked on her sob, her fingers losing grip on Logan's shirt. Her shoulders slumped forward and Marie collapsed against Logan's chest, her head bent down in defeat.
Logan didn't know what else to do but pull his jacket tighter over her trembling form and pick her up.
Her sobs were wretched, unlike anything he'd ever heard from her. He'd seen her cry before, but never like this. Her crying consisted of tears running down her cheeks, with the occasional sniffle.
This ... this was something he didn't know if he could handle. She was shaking so bad he thought she might've been having a seizure.
Storm came up to him, hands covered in Mystique's blood. "Come on, we need to get Mystique to Hank." She looked down at Marie, who seemed to be in her own dark world. "She may need to be sedated, at least until we can get her to the Professor."
Logan growled. "The Professor did this to her."
"Ah wanted control," Marie whispered, her eyes still tightly closed, her hands still barely holding onto Logan's shirt.
Storm and Logan locked eyes, but Logan sidestepped the weather witch and made his way back to the jet. He heard her trailing behind as he made his way outside, toward the road. Up ahead he could see Jean, telekinetically moving Marie's bike with her.
He glanced back down at the woman in his arms, who was still shivering despite his best efforts to hold her close to him.
"Her control isn't mine," Marie whispered, talking to herself.
And suddenly Logan understood.