"Tea?"

Carol looked at Magneto, at the cup he held out and back at her feet. She sat in silence and scuffed one foot along the floor in an arc.

"What's bothering you, my dear?" he took a leisurely sip as he waited for her to answer.

"I had a nightmare," she replied.


Magneto nodded, "Well, I hardly need remind you such things are of no consequence."

"I know," Carol shook her shoulders.

Magneto continued to drink, biding his time for her peace.

"How is Logan this morning?"

"I can barely hear him... inside," she admitted. His presence had lost its intensity over the past few days in the rocky fortress. Magneto had been right, she'd had time to regain some control.

"But since they arrived yesterday, Jubilee hasn't stopped yelling and he snarls continuously."

Magneto frowned, "I'll have Creed take care of that for you."

"It's not so bad," Carol dismissed. She trembled to see that hulk of a man - the psychotically unraveled brute. Somehow it hurt to think she might unleash that on people who had once been her friends. Besides, it wasn't Jubilee's calls or Wolverine's growls that disturbed her. It was the questions... inside. Carol slipped her fingers, elegant fingers, through a cup handle. She gulped down the tea thirstily.

"Have you made your decision?" Magneto watched like a vulture as she sucked it down so desperately tea spilled down her chin.

"When do you need it by?"

Magneto raised a hand and a silver clock floated onto the table between them. "Twenty-three hundred hours, tomorrow."

"A day?"

"A little more, my dear, but you have had two weeks."

Carol nodded and pushed herself away from the table. She needed to talk to someone, but not this twisted husk in front of her. Magneto was a casualty of war and he hadn't even noticed that he was dead yet.

Her fingers spasmed and the cup smashed onto the floor.

---

"She was your friend too!" Jubilee banged her palm into the wall again. "Oh damn it," she clasped her hand suddenly as she felt a sting.

"Feeling useful?"

Wolverine sat propped up against a wall, his legs spread wide over the floor. He'd regained consciousness soon after having been tossed in here with Jubilee. Thick stone surrounded him, except for the entrance where there appeared to be nothing. But they'd found how deceptive that was when Logan had pushed an arm through. He'd regained consciousness an hour later, with Jubilee hovering over him as his blood still flowed through a wound.

The barrier was a lattice of the killing energy, and points of light skittered across the `bars', marking out their presence.

Jubilee was watching him, as he breathed steadily, letting his whole body swell with air and then fall. She held her hand tightly and eyed him. Suddenly, Logan leapt up as his nose raised into the air. He inhaled deeply, in a crouch, before a wicked grin spread across his face.

"Missed ya, darlin'," he growled.

Carol started at his voice, so close to the barrier where she stood in darkness.

"I keep forgetting what you are," Carol replied.

"You may as well come out."

"Carol?" Jubilee walked forward, peering around the corner.

Carol seemed to appear in front of her, "Who else... Jubes?"

"How's things going with Magneto?"

Carol narrowed her eyes.

"C'mon, Carol. How does it feel to shack up with the guy you've always hated?"

"Jubilee," Logan tried to calm her.

Carol ignored her and looked at Logan, "I have little more than a day to decide what I'm going to do."

"What's the choice?"

"Whether to murder us or –"

Logan's hand clamped around Jubilee's mouth and he eyed Carol. "Help them or leave. I guess. It's never really been spelt out, but there may be fighting. Possibly torture," Carol looked at them pointedly, "For some of us."

Jubilee wriggled and Logan let her go.

"And you thought you'd come say hello and best wishes? How uncharacteristic," she retorted.

"You keep waiting for me to snap," Carol looked hard at Jubilee, "Because then you think Marie will pop out and save the day."

"Would that be so bad?"

Carol turned away from them, disappearing back into shadow. Jubilee huffed and retreated to a corner of the room. Despite her exhaustion she could only concentrate on the rawness of her throat and the hunger pang in her stomach.

Logan sat against the wall, near the invisible bars and listened to the quiet breaths on the other side.

"She thinks you're gone," Logan finally stated. Jubilee didn't even notice his voice or the slightest movement of his rough face.

"She dreamt of you," Carol replied softly. Logan closed his eyes and Marie's face flooded into sight. He'd dreamt of her too.

"All she wanted for so long was to be in your arms. She wanted your touch. Fuck, she wanted a lot of you," Carol's voice shivered.

Logan let her speak, knowing this was why she had come. She was trying to attone, or at least confess.

"Did you know... it wasn't always like this, Logan. I..." Carol bit into her lip, steadying herself as she remembered, "When I woke up, I couldn't feel her at all. I opened my eyes and there was this big, white room. And I stretched my fingers and all I could think was they felt wrong."

Logan murmured, encouraging her. He was picturing his Marie's body on a medlab, her eyes being opened by a stranger who didn't know any better.

"It was the hair that confirmed it, long before Jean let me look at a mirror. When I could, I bleached those damn streaks out..." Carol spoke, retelling the story of how she'd come to realize what she was now. And how Marie had been silent in those first days.

"It was the blood that did it. I cut my hand on a fence. Left a scar when it healed. She liked the scent of blood... I think she saw that as so much of your relationship. This mutual matyrdom crap."

"Not a matyr, not yet," Logan warned.

Fabric rustled against the stone as she shrugged.

"The hardest thing... the most painful thing to learn was that Marie doesn't live in me."

Sweet features loomed through the darkness as Logan opened his eyes to see her face just in front of the barrier.

Carol took a deep breath and Logan leaned into the vision. It was dark enough to shadow the bleached hair, as a strand fell forward. "I live in her.... I live in her."

"You know what you have to do, Carol," Logan stared at her intensely, "You know you have to give her control."

"I don't want to lose control!" Carol whimpered.

"You're not losing it, you're returning it."

Carol's fingers reached into a square hollow of the barrier and Logan stared at the fingers for a moment. Marie... he reached forward and brushed his fingertips against them.

"She doesn't want to lose this either," Carol replied.

"But you know... you know this isn't your life," Logan whispered hoarsely. Across the room, Jubilee tossed a little where she dozed.

"I know," Carol broke off as a tear flowed down her cheek, "But it's not that simple, Logan. It's not that easy to die."