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Words in italics are telepathic conversations, dreams, or thoughts.

Chapter 9

"Whoa." The young boy said. Both were obviously not paying much attention to their surroundings.

"I'm so sorry." Rally apologized and her cheeks began to turn rosy pink.

"It's okay." He told her with a smile. "Um, Rally, right?" He asked.

"Yeah." She confirmed, wondering how he knew her name.

"You don't remember me, do you?" The brown-haired boy asked.

Rally looked at him and then it clicked. He was one of the boys with Warren the first time they had met. "Oh, you're….Robby?" She asked hesitantly.

He chuckled. "Close. I'm Bobby."

"I'm sorry." She felt bad for forgetting his name.

"It's okay this time, but next time it won't be." Bobby joked.

Both of the teens laughed, making the situation much less awkward.

"Where are you headed?" He asked.

"Um, I don't really know." Rally answered.

"The Professor didn't assign you to any classes?"

The young girl looked away from him and out the window to her right. "No, not yet." Her happiness faded as she was reminded of her isolation.

Bobby ran his hand through his brown, somewhat spiky hair. "You're really lucky. I would love to have no classes."

Rally sighed. He had no idea what it was like to be alone. "Yeah." She replied, spreading a fake grin across her face.

"Bobby, what are you doing?" A taller girl asked, appearing from around the corner. She had long, straight brown hair with a large streak of white. To Rally, it looked awful, but people did have the freedom of expression. If she thought that looked nice, so be it. Then she remembered seeing the girl before. She was the one who glared at her from outside her door the night she woke up screaming from her nightmare.

"Oh, hey Rogue. I was just talking to Rally." Bobby explained. Quickly, the girl Rally now knew as Rogue took her place by Bobby's side and squeezed his hand in hers. "Rally, this is Rogue, my girlfriend." Bobby introduced.

"Hi." Rally smiled.

"Hi." Rogue replied with a bit of concealed harshness. Her boyfriend didn't notice. "Bobby, we should get to class." She stated and began to pull him a little bit.

"Yeah, we probably should. I'll see ya later, Rally." He said with a friendly smile.

"See ya." Rally returned the smile. The other girl gave her a grimace before turning her back and heading down the hall with Bobby tightly by her side. Rally wondered what that girl's problem was. It wasn't like she was trying to steal Bobby. In fact, this was the first time they actually talked and Rogue already had something against her.

Slowly, Rally headed for the giant double doors leading outside. It was all she could think to do. Jean never told her what the rules were for going outside so how could she get in trouble? Besides, they wouldn't mind if it was only for a little while. What else did they expect her to do? The young girl tried to reason with her conscience as she placed her hand on the door handle and turned.

"Where're you going, kid?"

Rally quickly turned around, shocked that someone was behind her, and she was completely unaware to the fact. She came head to head with Logan. His arms were crossed and he had a satisfied look on his face from successfully taking her by surprise.

"No where." She replied and pulled her hand from the handle.

Logan smirked. "Right. Your just standing by the door for fun?"

"Yes." She smiled, knowing she couldn't fool him. "I was actually headed outside." The young girl confided.

"Okay." Logan replied.

Rally raised her eyebrow at his calmness. "Isn't it against the rules?"

"I don't follow rules." He answered.

She laughed. "Really?"

"Really." Wolverine stated, and then noticed her arm lacked the white bandaging it was covered in that morning. "I see Jean looked at your arm. How is it now?" He asked, losing his humorous mood and replaced it with concern.

"It's good. The wounds are all healed."

"That was fast. It must not have been too bad." He said, not even giving it a thought that Rally could have possibly inherited some of his healing abilities.

"Actually, the professor said I have weak healing powers. They aren't very strong, as you can tell. The scars are still there." She lifted her sleeve to show him.

There, on her arm were four deep impressions on top and one at the bottom. He was impressed. If he had any doubt in his mind of Rally being his daughter, it was now gone. Logan knew how rare his ability was. It wasn't a coincidence that this kid had a similar ability to his.

"Join the club." He stated and continued looking at the impressions, his mood changing as he imagined the culprit clawing into her delicate skin. How could his brother do this to an innocent child? Wolverine was enraged. He desired with a frightening passion to avenge the pain his daughter suffered and the pain he suffered.

Rally noticed his immediate change in disposition and frowned. "Logan?"

He looked at her with cold eyes, breathing deeply. Seeing her slightly scared expression, he knew what must be done. He didn't want her being frightened of him anymore. She needed to know the truth.

"Rally, we need to talk." He stated gravely. "Follow me."

The young girl was stunned. Had Logan just called her by her real name? He always called her kid. Always. She knew this had to be serious. Slowly, Rally followed him out the door and towards the cliff dropping down to the ocean. It was her favorite spot on the mansion grounds.

When they reached the cliff, Logan stared out over the blue waters in silence with his back turned to the young girl. She quietly stood a ways behind him, not wanting to rush what he had to tell her. From his reaction, it seemed upsetting.

After a few minutes, he finally ordered softly, "Rally, come here."

The fifteen year old moved forward to his side.

"What I have to tell you is not going to be easy, kid." Logan turned and faced her.

Rally nodded with understanding, directly looking at him.

He hesitated before continuing. "You loved your…father a lot, didn't you?"

The young girl nodded.

"He wasn't really your father, Rally."

It took a couple seconds for her mind to process this. All she could think to say was, "What do you mean?"

"The man you've been living with isn't your real father." He told her again.

Rally then began to laugh, "I don't get it." She thought it was some kind of a joke.

Logan sighed. Just getting her to believe him was proving to be more difficult than he thought, and he wasn't even to the toughest part. "I'm serious, kid. That man wasn't your father."

He watched as her expression changed when she realized he was solemn. "How do you know this?" She asked.

Logan took a long pause and braced himself for her reaction. "Because I'm…your father." He struggled to say the last part but spit it out quickly.

Rally stood frozen for a few seconds and then began taking steps back away from the man who had just claimed to be her father. The young girl shook her head in denial. "No….No. That's not possible. No." The tears gushed from her eyes as reality enveloped her mind.

Logan had no idea what to do. Why was she crying? Should he ask or let her go? He decided to stay where he was. If she was anything like him, Rally would want to handle it herself.

The young girl slowly slumped to the ground and stared out over the vast blue ocean. There was nothing but the sound of the waves and her sniffling for a few minutes. "How?" She asked.

He stood silent for a moment. He didn't even know himself. "We gave you to someone else, I guess." It was a bad answer, he knew, but that's all he knew for sure.

The young girl caught the word we and gave her hope. Maybe she did have a mother somewhere. "My mother…where is she?"

Logan honestly didn't know. "I think she's gone, kid."

Rally looked away. It didn't really affect her. She had never known her mother so why would she feel pain? More importantly, why didn't the man who called himself her father all these years tell her she was adopted? He lied. He flat out lied to her.

"I loved and trusted him so much. How could he lie to me?" She spoke her thoughts aloud about her adopted father. "He was the best Dad ever. How could he keep such a huge secret from me? He was…my best friend. We never kept secrets."

Logan debated whether or not to attempt to comfort her. If he did, he would probably make things worse, but, his fatherly instincts took over as her continued whimpering got the better of him.

He knelt down beside her and stayed silent for awhile.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rally asked in a steady voice. There was a hint of anger.

"I had no idea I had a kid until the first day you came here." He answered.

"How?" She cried, now expressing her feelings of betrayal and abandonment. She felt lost and confused. Her entire life was a lie.

"It wasn't my fault, Rally. Fifteen years ago, something big happened and my memory was completely wiped except for a few scattered images in my brain. I remember pain, horrible pain. It was worse than you could ever imagine. I was a test subject for William Stryker. I don't know how or why, though. He made my bones adamantium, an indestructible metal and now, I don't even know who I am, but I found you, kid. And that gives me a clue to my past. At one point, I had a home, a wife, a kid. I was a person with a family." Logan told the young girl. It was more than he ever told anyone, more than he ever wanted to tell anyone, but he couldn't stop once he got started. The words kept coming and the emotions kept flowing through his body. He glanced at Rally who sitting with her legs tucked up against her chest. She remained perfectly silent with a frown on her face, looking out over the ocean. His speech must have gotten to her. Maybe now she finally understood.

"I'm sorry, kid." He said with sincerity for he was truly sorry.

She looked over at him. "For what?"

He hesitated. "For not being there when you were growing up."

Rally looked back over the ocean. "It's okay."

"Is it?" Wolverine quizzed.

She nodded. "Like you said, it wasn't your fault."

Logan almost smiled, thinking everything was going to alright now, but he saw sadness in her brown eyes. He was pretty sure he knew what it as, too. "You really loved him."

The young girl closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears. "Yea. He was a great man."

For a split second, Logan felt the slightest bit of anger, but it dissipated immediately. He had no right to be mad at the man who raised his daughter. He had done what Wolverine could have never done with a kid. He had given her love and guidance, something Logan would have been incapable of if when Rally was born, she remained with him. What would she have turned out like? An animal like him?

"So, what now?" She asked. Everything had completely changed in her life within these last few minutes. She didn't know how things would precede from that point on.

"I don't know, kid." He replied. Logan glanced at his daughter and felt something. It was the closest thing to love he had felt in fifteen years and he smiled. "How 'bout we go inside?" He suggested.

"Okay." Rally said and stood up. As they walked back into the mansion, she thought about how much had changed in so little time. In just a few days, her adopted father had died, she lost her home, she found out she was a mutant and moved into the mansion. Then, she found out she had the mutant ability of healing and her father really wasn't her father. Logan was actually her Dad and her mother was dead. The young girl didn't know how much more she could take.

End Chapter

Thank you for reading :) Please review. This was probably the hardest part to write and the hardest emotions to convey. I apologize if I did a terrible job.