Chapter 5 – The return part 2
It felt strange, coming up the long driveway of Xavier's Mansion and turning off the engine of the motorbike – Logan hadn't been there for three years and yet the large building still held its charm.
The gardens were as beautiful as ever (Ro must be looking after them still) and gave the mansion a homely feel while its exterior gave it the look of a professionalism and propriety but Logan knew that inside all the good manners were scrapped. Teenagers with raging hormones and the X-gene could only spell one word: disaster.
The etiquette that the X-Men held was thrown out the window and replaced with swearing, dirty talk and good old banter. Logan was always one to flirt with the ladies and when he first came to the mansion, it had been great to see that blush on Jean's cheeks.
He had fancied Jean; everyone who had testosterone running in their system would be blind not to notice that she was something special. She was hot to trot and had the most fucking perfect legs, so Logan felt flirting with her was easy, plus it pissed ol' One-Eye off no end.
However, it had occurred to him that yes, he liked Jean and at one time would have jumped at the chance to give her a merry fuck but she was in love with Scott and he was never going to compete. Also, he now knew that the only woman for him was Marie.
He parked his (Scott's) bike in its space in the garage and went through the back door of the mansion. The corridor would lead him straight past Marie's room and (if he was lucky) he would find her there and be able to drop a 'hello' before he went to speak to Chuck.
God must not have been on his side today though, because as soon as he came round the corner he heard her... his Marie shouting about something, or more specifically someone, while that Yellow kid is trying to calm her down.
"Of course I'm not happy Jubes!" Exclaimed Rogue, "I hate his guts... you and I both know that when he finds out Jean is alive and kicking, he'll be all over her like a moth to a flame. Right now, I can't deal with that." What was she talking about? Jeannie's alive?
Yellow tried to interrupt Marie but it would seem that my girl was pretty pissed.
"I mean, who does he think he is? Sure, Charles asked him to come back and all but that doesn't give him the right to think I want him back." Was she talking about me? "He... he left me Jubes, he left everyone and he can't just come back and expect me to run into his big arms and say "Yay, you're home!" 'Cos that aint happening! You hear me?"
Wow, she must be annoyed. Half the kids are out here gawking at her.
"Back up chica, Prof asked Logan back? I thought his return was, well, out of the blue?" Yellow said, she looked as confused as the rest of the students. Rogue knew his return and about this 'emergency' and no one else did? What the hell?
"It's nothing to worry about babe. Yes, Charles did ask him back and yes, I knew. Just don't ask questions that I can't tell you the answers to. Okay?" Yellow nodded but looked pretty annoyed.
Marie left after that, probably to cool off in the gardens or something. Well, I hope so anyway.
On another note: Jean is alive! I mean what the actual fuck? As well as that, Marie knows about this...this 'thing' that's going on! God, I need to find Chuck.
So Logan roamed the rest of the halls, trying to avoid everyone and anyone while making his way to Charles' office.
Before Logan could knock he heard a faint "Come in" from inside the Professor's office.
"Ahh, Logan my dear boy. Please come in, have a seat. I will just finish this last page." Charles quickly finished reading the book while Logan took the seat opposite the wheel-chaired man. "I thought you'd be here later." Charles said as he laid his book down.
"As soon as you gave me that call Chuck, I knew I was needed." Logan replied, looking rather uncomfortable in front of the man. "What...what happened while I was gone? Is Jeannie alive and what the hell happened to Marie?"
"Yes, Jean is alive and when it comes to Rogue...it's rather a long story." Charles knew Logan was dumbfounded about the news that Jean is alive – he'd heard Rogue's diatribe about Logan as she had projected quite violently (unusual for her) – and he knew that Logan needed answers. "How about I start at the beginning?" Logan just nodded.
The Professor told Logan about how he, Jean and Scott came to be alive. How Scott never died, and how he transferred his powers into the duplicate of himself as well as, how Jean 'rose' from the dead a second time.
He also told him that Jean still had the Phoenix inside her mind and that, even though it took a little while for the rest of the X-Men to trust her, they now knew that everyone would be safe until it was time to purge the creature from Jean's inner conscience.
Over the last year, the X-Men had been working towards creating public relations between mutants and humans.
Hank was still working with politicians to gain their support when the vote on the 'Mutants Registration Act' came into play while Scott had an assembled team that was ready and waiting for Logan's return.
"So, what the hell happened to Marie?" Logan exclaimed.
"Are you sure you want to know Logan?" Logan nodded mutely. "Fine, first off, you need to know that she's different – angry, frustrated, hurt, resentful – I could think of any number of adjectives to describe her. But the best word is: betrayed."