The limos pulled up outside the mansion doors at around seven o’clock. We had all been waiting for this day to come, but we never realized how exciting it would be. Before leaving my room, I looked in the mirror at myself to make sure I looked presentable. My suit was black, and I had a blue vest with a yellow tie. We were all requested by the professor to somehow integrate our costume colors, and that was the best I could do. I’m not one for appearance, but this was a special night. It was the night of my grade twelve graduation, the night that reassured me that I never have to get up early for school again. I walked out of my room and upon entering the hall I heard a voice scream “Logan!” It was Rogue. She ran up to me and gave me a huge hug. When she steped away, I got a good look at her. Her dress was a dark green with a yellow trim, and she had long green gloves. Her hair was let down and straightened, but her white bangs were pushed behind her ears. She looked beautiful. If I hadn’t already drilled myself into the friendship zone, I would definitely ask her out. She was smart, pretty, funny, and willing to do anything to make you smile. Some nights, she will even call me up, just to watch movies. Of course our rooms are just down the hall from each other, but we find it fun to sync up our DVD players and just comment on the phone. It’s kinda our thing. Luckily, even though she doesn’t love me, she’s still my date to grad. Neither of us had dates, so we decided to go as friends. But she did say that we should hold hands for the effect of it.

“You look handsome” she said, and just as I was about to respond, I heard another voice.
“Hey Logan, Rogue!” It was Gambit. Remy LeBeau is my best friend other than Rogue, and he’s always trying to be different somehow. He was wearing a white suit with a dark purple tie, and his white fedora had a purple band around it. He was taking Emma Frost, because like Rogue and I, neither of them had dates either. Emma had a boyfriend, but he was busy that night, and I had already asked Rogue, so she asked Remy. We all had a few classes together so we were pretty close. Emma was upstairs getting ready still, so it was just the three of us. We liked it that way though. Bobby started to come down the stairs, and when he saw Rogue and I, he made an ice trail and skated off as fast as he could. He had developed feelings for Rogue, and she rejected him. Rogue and I get pretty close sometimes, like hugging and stuff, and apparently that hurt his little feelings. He bitched at her that if she was a good friend, she would stop, and that info came back to me, and I kicked his ass behind the institute. He tries to avoid us now, and he always bitches at Rogue that he’s so sure we are dating. But let’s not dwell on him. From behind the ice, we saw Jean make her way down the stairs, and she was talking to Emma. They looked like an angel and a devil, because Jean was wearing all red, and Emma was wearing all white. Jean’s costume is green, but after her run in with the phoenix force, she decided that she looked better in red. Her red dress has no straps, and the bottom of it had an angle that started just above her left knee, and ended about half way down her right calf. She wore a golden belt around her stomach. Emma on the other hand, looked like she was wearing a wedding gown. Emma is the type who usually doesn’t wear very much at once, so to see her so concealed was almost shocking. Her dress was low cut, with diamonds around the edges, and ruffles along the bottom. They reached the bottom of the stairs, and began to walk toward us.

“Rogue, you look HAWT!” Emma yelled from across the room.
“I know, you look like you’re getting married.”
“Shut up, I liked it, and so did Cain.” Cain Marko is Emma’s boyfriend, also known as the Juggernaut. Yeah, he’s in the brotherhood, but Emma doesn’t care. He isn’t in school anymore, and is fulltime working for magneto now, and tonight they had some important meeting on how to destroy us, so he had to miss out. Emma and Rogue trailed off and walked to where the door was. Remy followed, and I started to but then I notice that Jean was just staring at the stairs.
“What’s wrong?
“I’m waiting for Scott”
“The limos are gunna leave soon, you should probably hurry up.”
“I’m gunna wait”
“Come on, Jean, everyone’s waiting.” She didn’t respond. Jean and Scott summers had been going out for longer than anyone could remember. She always talks about how awesome he is, and she’s pretty stubborn, so I just cave. “I’ll see you at grad then.”
“See ya.” I turned and left.

I looked at the line of limousines on the street in front of the mansion. Seeing how many of us were graduating this year, the professor had ordered five of them. I surveyed them closely. All the windows were tinted, and it was getting dark, so I couldn’t see inside any of them. I wanted to find my friends, but that’s pretty hard when you can’t see them, and you’re not telepathic. I heard a pop sound come from the second to last limo, and when I turn to look, I see a gloved hand waving out the window, then a glowing card flies out and explodes. That explains the popping sound. I walk over to the door, and from behind me I hear my name being called by two voices. I cringe. I turn and see that I was right. Jubilee and the beast. Jubilee and Hank have become my personal fan club, and they tend to follow me... EVERYWHERE. I once did a project with Jubilee, and she fell head over heels for me. Hank on the other hand, had recently come out of the closet. But only to me and Rogue. He is in love with me, and there is not much I can do about it. I’m not a homophobe, but ever since coming out, Hank lost himself to the rainbow. He became a complete flamer, and it drives me nuts. Both him and Jubilee think that Rogue is their best friend, but we both know that they use her to get close to me. They both run to catch up with me, but I pretend I didn’t see them, and I hop in and close the door. Because neither of them can have me, they are taking each other. Though by best efforts, they both get in the limo right after me, and sit next to Rogue, who is sitting across from me. Another reason I like Rogue is because she keeps my stalkers busy for me. She will talk to them for hours, just so that they will leave me alone. Hank begins the conversation by saying
“OMG you guys!! Have you ever felt your stomach go into your brain?!” He always says freaky things like that. Jubilee and Hank continue to talk, and Rogue makes her way over to there I am. We call Hank and jubilee the goose troop. Once Rogue and I went to a pond in grade ten, and this goose began to follow me. It wouldn’t leave me alone. On the way home, we looked out the window, and it was flying just above my jeep. It was creepy, thus we call them the goose troop. Rogue looks at me, and a smile begins to form on her mouth. I smiled back, just as Hank looks up and screams “CAAAACK!!” That’s his favourite word. Rogue burst into laughter. She has a corny laugh, and I love it. We sat in the limo for another minute or two, until Scott and Jean came. Then off we were to the last day of our high school lives.

There was a small jerk as the limo began to pull out of the driveway. Jubilee and Hank continued to talk, but I wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying. They kept looking over at me and giggling. I was beginning to feel a bit awkward, like I was being undressed with their eyes, so I tried to ignore them by talking to Rogue. When I turned to her, she just smiled. “What? I asked.
“Haven’t you been listening?”
“No.” Her smile grew as she put her hands on me knee. She leaned towards my ear slowly, and when she was so close I could feel her breath, she whispered “Your zipper is undone.” She immediately burst out laughing again. God I love her laugh, but at the same time I wanted to punch her. I knew I was probably blushing, and the only way to keep the attention away from myself was to join in the laughter. If anyone else had told me, I would have been fine, but it was Rogue. This was my night to impress her, and I screwed it up already. I zipped myself up, and looked out the window Remy had left open. The sky was a deep orange, and the sun has half way behind the horizon. Normally I don’t pay such close attention to nature, or clothing, or anything for that matter, but Remy seemed to be into that sort of thing and Rogue had dated him for a while. It would have probably lasted forever, but Remy couldn’t handle not being able to kiss her. I figured with my healing powers, I would be able to handle her touch. Many times it had crossed my mind to just kiss her. Once, we were on top of a hill during a sunset. We had just been watching it go down behind the trees, when I looked at her. She didn’t look like other girls. Other girls were either hot, or ugly. That was that. But the way she was sitting there in her gray hoodie and her purple gloves, the harsh wind blowing her hair every which way, and the suns orange glow reflecting off her face made her look... Beautiful. There was no other word. Her lips looked so soft, and when she turned to look at me, her gray eyes seemed to be thinking the same thing I was, but I couldn’t be sure. She opened her mouth to speak, but I couldn’t hear her over the wind. “What?”
“I’m freezing, let’s go home.” I wished she hadn’t said that. I was cold too, but the moment was so perfect that I wasn’t even paying attention to it. All I could think of was taking her in my arms, and kissing her soft lips. But, like everything, it had to end. I got up, and helped her up, and we walked back to the mansion. There, she was greeted by Remy, who she had been dating at the time. He smiled at me, and I didn’t smile back. “Bye Rogue” was all I said, then I turned and left. That had ruined the night.

The limo was beginning to get very warm inside, and we had to crack every window that was accessible. Scott and Jean were in the corner, talking to each other about how good each other looked, Emma and Remy were having a spitting contest out of the window, and Jubilee and Hank were going through Hanks pictures. This left me and Rogue. The deep orange sky shone off her pale skin, and she looked just as she did on the hill. “The sky is really pretty, huh Logan?”
“Beautiful”
“Yeah, it is”
“Huh? What’s what?”
“The sky? You said it was beautiful.”
“Oh, I did?”
“Are you alright Logan? You seem a little distant...”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just thinking.”
“About what?”
“Thoughts”

We pulled up to a red light, and another limo pulled up beside ours. We all continued talking, and laughing, but we soon started shivering. I heard a vibration sound, and Rogue pulled out her iPhone. Her background was a picture of the two of us at the fair. My background was the same thing, but for an entirely different reason. She slid the little bar and her smile faded. She looked out the window to the other limo and flipped the bird. I looked out to see who she just fingered, and I saw Bobby, holding his hands towards our limo. There was a light blue coming from his hands and it didn’t take is long to figure out that he was the reason we were all so cold. Bobby ignored us, but he also tried his hardest to piss us off. “How are the love birds?” he yelled across the street “ Logan? Rogue?” Jean put her hands to her head, and we watched as Bobby suddenly flew backwards into the darkness of his limo. We heard Ororo scream, and Remy started to laugh. In the madness of it, I had gotten a hold of Rogues phone. I looked at the text that had been sent. “Having a ‘cool’ time?” Ever since he decided that Rogue and I were dating, Bobby had begun to be a real dick to the both of us. He would send long texts about how we betrayed him and such. After I broke his collar bone though, he keeps his distance. I guess I’ll just have to teach him a lesson. That’s weird, I figured lessons were over because it was grad. Oh well.

The light changed, and we began to move forward again. Everyone was having a great time, except me. When Rogue had asked me what’s wrong, I wanted to tell her everything. How much I liked her, how beautiful she was, and how I would brave her powers for a kiss. But she was different. I would tell most girls if I liked them, or if they were hot, but Rogue made me feel stupid, like I forgot how to talk or something. I couldn’t think of a word for it, but I knew I was not alone. Or at least I hoped I was not alone. The inside of the limo had a cold feeling still, and the heater was on, causing a low buzzing sound. All of the windows were closed, but I knew that the sky was still orange, and with that thought, I imagined Rogue. I could see her standing on top of the hill. She walks towards me, and puts her hands on the sides of my face. She fondles my sideburns for a second, until she pulls me in and-
“Logan?”

I snapped back to reality, and looked around. I’m the only one still sitting, and the soft sound of distant music fills my ears. Everyone had started heading to the gym, but Rogue just stared at me from the parking lot. “You coming?” she asked me.
“Yeah.” I imagine the hill one last time, but only for a second. The sun has gone down and Rogue is walking away. I guess that’s how it has to be in real life too...

She stretched her hand out towards me, and I grabbed it. It was meant to help me out of the limo, but instead I just held it. The velvet of her gloves felt soft in my hands. I sat there for a good fifteen seconds until she actually pulled hard and got me up off my seat. I got up, and as we walked, she stepped on the front of her own dress and fell face first onto the pavement. She stood up, and looked at me like she was about to cry, but then her mouth curved into one of those smiles you can’t help. She began to laugh again. Thinking about how stupid she looked, I began to laugh too. My laugh was much heartier than hers, and they sounded terrible together, but we continued all the way to the door. When we got to the front doors, Ms. Dootjes, our old Social teacher stood holding an old camera. She looked overly happy to see us, but she always had. Every time she would walk passed us in the halls, we would be laughing at something, and just as she passed, we would laugh about her. We were never very nice to her, but I don’t think she noticed. As we got closer, her smile grew until it was so large it looked amazing that she could fit her nose anymore. Ms. Dootjes looked better than she usually did. She had a long pink dress with an open back, and a blue necklace. She walked over and gave Rogue a hug, which was a very Ms. Dootjes thing to do, and during the hug, Ms. Dootjes cringed. Rogue walked backwards, and started to sway a bit. I ran over to her, and she looked me in the eyes, although the eyes looking back at me didn’t belong to Rogue. I was looking into Ms. Dootjes. Rogue shook her head, and her eyes went back to normal. She looked at her gloved hand and gasped. There was a rip about two inches long and three centimetres wide on the palm of her glove stretching to the middle of her ring finger. She had touched Ms. Dootjes directly. Suddenly, Rogues face went sour. She walked up to me and whispered “She’s always hated us. What a bitch.”

Ms. Dootjes held her head in pain. I felt bad for her, but at the same time I was almost jealous. She had touched the forbidden skin, the skin I could never have. Rogue looked at me with guilt in her eyes. She turned to Ms. Dootjes and said “Are you alright?”
“Oh, I’m fine. Just a head rush.” She took a good look at the two of us “You two look... amazing”
“Thanks, you look very pretty too Ms. Dootjes” Rogue responded. Her eyes had begun to water now, and she looked faint. Ms. Dootjes didn’t notice. She lifted her camera to her chest and asked “Do you two mind if I get your picture for the yearbook?” We couldn’t refuse. Rogue put her arm around my back, and I put mine around her shoulders. We smiled as the flash blinded us, leaving spots of white in our vision. Ms. Dootjes put the camera down and smiled at us. “You two get in there, you’re missing your grad.” I nodded, there was nothing left to say. We headed for the door, when from behind us we heard “Have fun you two.” I thought about how Rogue had said that she had always hated us. Her comment seemed so hollow now, so fake. I pushed the door open, letting Rogue in first, then following.

The gym was crowded with people, some I knew, but most I didn’t. The music was too loud, but because of my mutant hearing, it was almost unbearable. We stopped at the punch table to grab something to drink. I saw Scott leaning against the table, and Jean just standing there. They were talking about nothing really, but that was how they liked it. When we got to the table Rogue was the first to speak. “Hey Jean.” Simple, but it got a conversation going. Jean is the type who can say about fifty words a second, and it didn’t take long for Rogue to realize that starting that conversation was a big mistake. The look on Rogues face was priceless, and Jean just kept on talking. Rogue couldn’t even get a word in. Jean and Rogue started to walk away, leaving me alone with Scott. I kept my eyes on them as they walked away. Rogue was not even looking at Jean anymore, but the words kept flowing anyways. I chuckled a bit, and Scott gave me a funny look. “You really like her, huh?”
“Huh?”
“Rogue. I’ve seen how you look at her.”
“What? No.” I was lying of course, but I couldn’t tell him. Not now, not ever.
“Logan, my girlfriend is telepathic.”
“You got Jean to probe my head?!” I was starting to get pretty pissed off. I didn’t like Scott very much.
“No, I’m just saying-” I cut him off.
“You black mailin’ me bub?”
“No, I’m just, never mind.” And with that, he turned and walked away.

I looked back over to where Jean and Rogue were, and I saw that Jean was trying to read Rogues mind. When Jean tries to read your mind, she puts both her hands on the sides of her head, and her face scrunches a bit, so unless she’s far away from you, it’s obvious what she’s doing. Rogue had her eyes closed, and her face had no emotion. She was concentrating on something. Jean’s face was still scrunched, and they both stood very still. I saw jean open her eyes, and look around. She made eye contact with Ms. Dootjes, who had come inside. She looked back at Rogue, and said something. Rogue lifted her hand to show Jean the rip, and Jean looked worried. Rogue pulled her hand back from Jean and closed her eyes again. God I wish I could read her mind. I wanted to know everything she was thinking. Jean scrunched her face again, and they both stood still again, but for not as long this time. I saw Jean’s mouth curl into a smile, and she opened her eyes again. This time she looked straight at me. Rogue opened her eyes, and her face went into shock. She grabbed Jean’s arm and pulled her away. As they were walking, I noticed that Jean had started to laugh.

I watched them until they reached the door, and then I focused back to the punch table. The glass bowl was about half empty. How long had I been watching them? I didn’t know. When I’m with Rogue I lose track of time. It’s weird, but it’s just what happens. I grabbed the ladle to pour myself a drink, when a pale hand smacked the table hard. I looked up, expecting it to be Scott, or one of the brotherhoods kids, but it was Remy. He tends to over accentuate his movements and words, but that’s what makes him Remy. “And how is Logan tonight? Having fun, non?”
“I guess. Where have you been?”
“Oh, here and there.” Remy isn’t a very descriptive person. He plays up the whole softie, stop to smell the roses deal when there are ladies around, but he’s really worse than I am. If the sun blew up he wouldn’t even notice, let alone go to the efforts to remember and explain his whereabouts. “Mind pouring Remy a glass?” I looked down at my hand. I had forgotten I was holding the ladle, and a line was beginning to form behind Remy. I guess everyone was thirsty. I poured him one, and then myself one, and I was about to walk away when I saw Rogue walking towards the table.

Without thinking, I began to pour her a glass. I figured it was a pretty gentlemen thing to do, and I knew she was into that kind of stuff. She looked cold, and her hair was beginning to curl. There were streaks on her dress, and her shoes had mud all over them. I figured there was a problem, so I handed Remy his glass, left mine and walked over to her. “Hey, are you ok?” I asked.
“It started to rain just as jean and I got about half way across the football field. It’s coming down in sheets.” Her hair was soaked, and the streaks on her dress looked more like splashes up close. Her mascara was dripping down her face, and her lipstick was smudged a bit. “Logan?”
“Yeah?” She looked happy, even though she was so wet.
“Come outside with me.”
“But you just said it was raining.”
“Yeah, I want to talk to you, but not in here, not with so many people. And anyways, rain can be fun.” She took my hand and led me to the door.

We walked passed all of the dancing people, and over to the door. She pushed it, and a gust of wind showered rain through the open door and onto our feet. She looked up at me and smiled, and it almost looked like she was looking for my approval. To reassure her, I walked right passed her out the door. The rain hit me hard, and my hair and face became soaked in a matter of seconds. My hair gel began to run into my eyes. It stung, but I didn’t care. “You comin’?” I yelled. She smiled and said nothing. Instead she just ran out the door towards me and body checked me to the ground. She was on top of me, and my mind began to wander. I saw us at the beach together. She was lying on my stomach, and with every inhale I took, she would count one more number. 1, 2, 3, 4... It was magical. She continued to count. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9... Her hands were warm on my chest, and she put her head down on me to listen to my heart pump. 10, 11, 12 13, 14... Then, she got up. She circled around me, and bent down. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21... Her face grew closer, she stopped counting and her soft lips touched mine. The kiss was long and soft. I counted in my head. 22, 23, 24, 25... Then she gets back up, and looks at me. “Logan?” she asked.
“Yes?” She didn’t respond. She began to look worried.
“Logan?”
“What?”
“Logan, can you hear me?”

Suddenly, I felt a hard thud on my chest. The rain poured even harder now, and I sat up coughing. The back of my head hurt, but thanks to my healing powers, I’d be fine. Everything was a little blurry, and I was about to get up, when a pair of arms wrapped around me tightly. “Thank god you’re ok”
“Rogue? What happened?”
“I knocked you over and you hit your head on the pavement. You’ve been out cold for about a minute.” I felt the back of my head, and noticed a bump. I knew it would be gone soon, but the pain was pretty harsh. “I’m so sorry Logan. I didn’t mean to.”
“Don’t worry about it, I heal fast.” Her face lightened up a bit, but she still looked guilty. She stood up, and then she put out her hand to help me. I looked at her palm. It was the slit glove. I could finally touch her. Finally feel how soft her skin was. I reached toward her hand, and just as I was about to grab her, she pulled away. “Sorry, I forgot that I had ripped that glove.” She put out her other hand, and I grabbed it. So close to what I’ve wanted for so long. Most were afraid of Rogues power, but I was amazed by its brute strength. Her touch could kill any man, but her fingers were so nimble that she could hold a butterfly’s wing without damaging it. I wanted to feel what she could do, to know what she was really capable of. The rain was beginning to let up, and the parking lot glistened from the street lights. We were both drenched, and there was no use going inside just yet. Rogue stopped in the middle of the parking lot, and looked back at me. She smiled, and looked up with her mouth open to catch the rain drops. She stood like that for about a minute. Then she looked at me and yelled over the rain “Come on, spin with me!” With that she looked back to the sky, stretched her arms out and began to spin. The rain bounced off of her, and created an ora around her. She looked like an angel, and her laughter only made it better. She stopped for a second, wobbled a bit, and walked over to me. “Aren’t you gunna spin with me?” She was so dizzy that she almost fell over twice just standing there.
“No, didn’t you have something to tell me?”
“Yeah, but I'll only tell you if you spin with me.” Spinning is really not my thing, but neither was rain, and I was out here for her already.
“Fine”

I looked up at the sky. The sun was down now, leaving the sky dark blue. There weren’t many clouds in the sky, and the moon shone high up among the stars. “Now, just turn around.” She was coaching me in how to turn around. Normally I would punch someone who wanted me to do something like this, but it almost felt romantic. I knew it was a one sided love, but I knew that if I had fun, or at least pretended to, she would have fun, and her happiness meant a lot to me. I stepped behind myself, then in front, and began going around. “That’s it!” she screamed, half laughing.
The sky began turning faster and faster, and soon I heard another set of splashing footsteps. She had begun to spin too. I was in ecstasy. In the rain, no one could hear us or see us. We were virtually alone. I began to laugh out loud. The rain poured into my open mouth, but I continued to spin. Rogue’s laughter was soon louder than mine, and we just spun in the rain. The water from my hair was flying every which way, and my tie had come untucked. It was sticking out from my neck like it was trying to escape. We probably would have continued, but suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder, and I heard Rogue stop. “We should go inside” she said.
“But didn’t you have something to tell me?”
“Uh, yeah. But I’ll tell you later.” She started to walk to the door, but I stopped her.
“Please tell me?”
“Let’s grab some punch first.” She turned and headed back to the school, leaving me with my thoughts in the rain. Although my thoughts were not imaginative. I wanted to know what she had to tell me. A part of me knew what she wanted to say, but another part told me that it was wishful thinking. Either way, I tucked in my tie and walked to the door.

We walked through the door, and everyone within an eyeshot turned to look at us. Whispers filled the room, and the music seemed quieter now. I felt a little stupid, but Rogue wore a huge smile. She seemed genuinely proud to be dripping all over the floor. This was a side of Rogue I hadn’t seen before. Maybe it was the Ms. Dootjes in her now, but she seemed braver, more adventurous. She was always so shy, so afraid to get close to people, but now it was like she had been the life of the party her whole life. Her smile never faltered, and we made our way over to the punch table. Someone had refilled it, and some had spilled on the white tablecloth. I guess we missed something. Hank walked over from the corner he had been standing in. He was wearing an image inducer that made him look less blue. Jubilee remained in the corner, but was watching intently. “Hi Logan!” he called as he walked up.
“Hi Hank.” I obviously wasn’t as happy to see him as he was to see me. Rogue grabbed the ladle and began to pour herself a drink.
“Uh, Logan, do you want one?” she asked.
“Yeah, sure.” I wasn’t looking at her anymore. Hank looked a little nervous walking up to us. He stopped to look at jubilee, and she motioned that he keep going. He continued walking, but slower now. He looked worried. Rogue sensed this, and walked up to him. “You alright sugah?” Her ignored her, and kept walking until he was about a foot away from me.
“Logan, I want to tell you something.” There was fear in his eyes, and longing. The last time I saw him looking like that he confessed he liked me. Not wanting to draw any attention to myself, I just continued looking into his eyes.
“What is it, bub?”
“Um... well.” He seemed as though he was gunna faint right there. “We have known each other for a while.”
“Yeah, we have. What’s your point?”
“Well, umm... I just figure that we probably won’t see each other again after this.” That’s right, I had forgotten that Hank was moving out of the mansion to go to some expensive university.
“Wow, you’re right.” I figured I knew where this was going. He was gunna tell me how awesome I was, and how he wished we could have been together, and how-

My mind shut off. He had grabbed my shirt, and pulled me in. Hank was kissing me. His furry face was plastered against mine, and his lips were squirming around like he had no idea what he was doing. I was in shock. I couldn’t move. I heard gasps and screams coming from all corners of the room, but I couldn’t react. I just stood there. The brute strength of the beast held me close, and his fangs were beginning to cut my mouth. It hurt, I could taste the blood, but he kept on kissing me. Finally, I regained my thoughts and pushed Hank off of me. He backed up into Rogue, who was holding her drink. She looked like she was in shock too, and when Hank knocked into her, her drink spilled out of her hands and all over Hank and herself. Hank looked slightly pleased with himself, but his eyes could tell that he was in trouble. Hank opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a popping sound. He looked down to his wrist. Smoke was starting to fume from the image inducer. Rogues drink had splashed it, and it was beginning to malfunction. I looked at his face and patches of blue began to appear. I watched in horror as Hank slowly became the beast in front of everyone. His face had terror written all over it as he watched himself transform. The entire gym had grown quiet, and all focus was on the blue man. Hank looked like he was about to cry, but he was interrupted by a loud scream.

This, being a public school, was mostly filled with non mutant people. And any mutant activity at all can cause them all to riot like wild animals. “He’s a mutant!” someone screamed. At least everyone probably forgot about the kiss. Hank stood there for a minute, his eyes filling with tears. He looked at me, half crying, and said “sorry.” Then he got on all fours and ran out of the room. “He’s attacking!” screamed one girl, and that was all it took. Everyone began to run in circles and hit into each other. A riot had broken out, and people were all trying to get to the exits at once. Screaming completely drowned out all music, and I lost track of Rogue. I began to run, checking all the exits, but to no avail. Finally, I found her over by the main exit. There were about fifty people jamming the door. She saw me, and ran towards me, but became caught between two people. I got as close to her as I could, and reached for her hand. She grabbed me, and I tried to pull her out, but I began to feel faint. My vision went blurry, and the room grew quiet. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. I stared into Rogues eyes, and she looked like she was in pain. She shook my hand off, and I fell to the ground.

I looked back up at her. Her arm had become wedged between a few people, leaving her open palm stretched forward towards the crowds of people trying to get out of the doors. I stared blankly forward, but then looked back up at Rogue. Her face looked angry, and she seemed scared. She looked down at me, and I found myself looking into my own eyes. I followed her arm with my eyes, and saw that the hand I had grabbed was wearing the ripped glove. I had felt her power. Finally I had made skin to skin contact with her. I looked back to her face, and she looked like she was in serious pain. I looked back to her hand, and saw that one after one, people were hitting into it. She was absorbing everyone she touched, and she was touching a lot of people. She let out a blood curdling scream, and I knew right away that she had no way to stop it. She was jammed to tightly in the crowd to pull her hand away. She began to cry as more and more people hit into her in their frenzy. I looked at her, and I realized that it was too many for her to handle. She was dying.

I looked up at Rogue, who was only standing now with the help of her captors. Her eyes had nothing in them. The green had turned gray. Her lips were blue and her complexion was turning white. She couldn’t breathe, and she couldn’t think anymore. There were too many people in her head. Her eyes were beginning to look into the back of her head. My body still felt faint from her touch, but I had to help her. I stood and surveyed the situation. There were four people around her, and two on her arm keeping it sticking out. One of the four was being pushed in by the one on the left of her arm, crushing her chest causing her to stop breathing. Her face almost looked demonic, and the beauty and life in her was slowly being taken over. Her eyes were closed now, and her face was blue. I had to get her out of there. I needed to move those stupid people. To get their attention and maybe not have to kill someone, I decided to scream first before making any rash decisions. My voice came from deep within, and it seemed to rumble. No one looked. Ok then. No other choice. I ran over to the group and grabbed the one on the left, throwing him to the wall. He hit hard and fell to the ground. A pool of blood began to flow from under him. The noise was unbearable, but I had to keep going. I grabbed the one who was crushing her, and tried to pull him off. He wouldn’t budge. I shot out my claws, ignoring the pain of it. I yelled again. Before I could strike, the boy looked at me and fell to the floor. Someone with stilettos stepped on his hand and my foot as she ran by. He screamed as the blood poured from the new hole in his hand. I stepped over him to where Rogue was. She opened her eyes and looked at me. “Logan! Help me!” Her eyes were deep green, and were afraid. No more tears, but close. She looked down at the boy on the floor and screamed. She shut her eyes and started to cry. The floor was beginning to get a nice layer of red on it, missed with spilled punch and vomit; we were really painting the place.

I stretched my hand towards her to try to pull her out of the crowd. I got a hold of her hand, and I began to pull. She was still soaking wet from being in the rain, and the glove felt like it was ready to slide right off. She had her eyes closed still. Her face was red, and her mouth was wide open as though she was trying to scream, but no sound came out. The sight of her was too much to handle. I held her hand tightly. The room began to spin, and I realized that I was touching her again through the rip, but I had to be strong. For her. My legs were beginning to shake, and my mouth felt dry. I looked at her and saw myself looking back. There was anger in her eyes, and the beautiful green that they usually were was gone. A dark brown replaced them, bloodshot and yellowed. My eyes. She looked down at me and yelled. Her voice came from deep within, and it seemed to rumble. She was full of my anger, but she had no control. She was blinded by the pains, the things I had seen. She began to shake her arm angrily to try to shake me off, but I had to hold on. My vision was blurry, and my legs felt like jell-o. "No Rogue!” I screamed. She yelled again, and lifted her hand just enough to clip the side of my head. She must have my strength too. She continued to shake me violently until I fell to the ground. I tried to get up, but someone running by slipped on the blood and fell onto me. I remember a sharp pain in my head and the clank of metal. I blanked.

I opened my eyes to see that the crowd had gone. There were only a few people left in the gym, but there was no sign of Rogue. Scott was standing in the corner. He looked pissed. He walked over to where I was laying. “What happened?” I asked. I was answered with a hard kick in the stomach. The air rushed out of me. Before I could try to regain my breath, Scott lifted me by the collar of my shirt. He pushed me against the wall next to the door. I looked at the floor and saw the blood, but the boys were gone. There was blood everywhere. The walls, the floor, the glove. Wait. Rogues glove was lying next to where I had fallen. It was dark green, but stained with blood. There was a large rip down its palm. She was somewhere out there with an exposed arm. What happe-

My thoughts were cut short by a swift punch in the gut. “Look what you did!” Scott screamed at me. He let me fall to the floor and he lifted his glasses. A beam of pure energy shot right at my head. It burned. There was the faint smell of burning flesh. “You caused all of this!”
“What are you talking about slim?” My face tingled. It must be healing itself.
“If you just kept your stupid feelings to yourself then-” I cut him off.
“What feelings?!”
“You and Hank.” I couldn’t believe it. I tensed my arms and my claws shot out. It hurt, like always, but I had a point to prove.
“Drop it, or I’ll gut you. He came at me.” I could feel the anger building up inside me. I was being blamed for ruining grad, my date was missing, and everyone thought I was gay. “Where’s Rogue?”
“Dunno. But she’s probably pretty screwed up.”
“Huh?”
“She ran towards us all and was trying to get our help or something. She started grabbing at us. Her glove was off, and she touched most of us directly. She took on our powers.”
“No. That wouldn’t happen. She was stuck at the door.”
“Well she got out and ran to me first. See that?” He pointed upwards. There was a huge brunt hole in the ceiling. “And she kept touching everyone. She’s probably a total mess.”
“Which way did she go?”
“I told you, I dunno.” My claws were still out. I pointed them towards him.
“I know you know.”
“Last I saw, she ran out the door and turned to where the forest is.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.” I pulled my claws back in.
“Thanks slim.” I turned to head for the door.
“Don’t mention it. Oh, and no need to thank me for keeping the police off your ass. I told them it was an accident. I saw what you did.” That prick. Was he blackmailing me or something? I stopped in my tracks and began to head back to where he was standing and punched him in the face. He fell to the ground.
“I wasn’t planning on thanking you.” With that, I ran to the door, stopping only to grab the blood soaked glove on the way out.

The rain had stopped, and the night air was warm and humid. The parking lot was filled with the sounds of sirens, screams and crying. Red and blue flashing lights were illuminating the wet ground. An ambulance was backed up near the door. The boys I had pummelled were inside, and one looked at me. He pointed and began to talk, but the nurses closed the door before I could hear him. The ambulance began to drive away. Everything was going too fast, and it was all too loud. I was confused. There were police everywhere, and another ambulance was parked on the other end of the parking lot. I saw Remy standing over by the far ambulance. Two doctors were trying to take him away. He looked funny, like someone had punched him in the gut. I ran over to where he was. “Logan!” he called. He seemed worried. I pushed the doctors off of him, and he fell to his hands and knees. The back of his white suit was stained red with blood. He turned onto his back to look at me. “Mon Cher, she pushed Remy into the table. The punch bowl shattered and-” he winced in pain. Blood was beginning to pour out of his mouth. “The bowl shattered and the pieces went into Remy’s back when I landed on it. I’m hurt bad.” He began to cough more blood, and a tear formed in the corner of his eye. I got down on one knee next to him and pulled him close to me. His eyes were beginning to lose their liveliness. Tears were running down his face, and his lips were beginning to quiver. “Logan?”
“Yeah buddy?”
“Remy doesn’t want to die. Not yet.”
“Come on, you’re not gunna die.” I had to lie. I knew I couldn’t tell him. It was too tough, even for me.
“Logan. Don’t lie to me.” He was as serious as a judge. His face was growing pale. One of the nurses called me over.
“One sec bud.” I laid him down on the ground softly and walked over to where she was standing.
“Do you know him?”
“Yeah. He’s my best friend. He’s gunna be ok, right?”
“Well, he-” I cut her off by grabbing the collar of her shirt and throwing her up against the ambulance. I heard Remy cough behind me.
“He’s GUNNA be ok, RIGHT?!” Her eyes were filled with fear. “Well?” She was trying to speak, but was too afraid. I felt a hand on my back. I turned to see Jean standing behind me.
“Put her down, Logan.” It was obvious that she had been crying. Her eyes were red, and there was mascara running down her face. I let the nurse fall to the ground. She seemed dumfounded, but Jean tried to talk to her anyways. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but the nurse didn’t respond either way. After a minute, Jean put her hands on the sides of her head, and scrunched her face. Immediately she burst out crying, and ran to me.
“He’s-he’s-" It was hard for her to talk through the sobbing.
“He’s what, Jean?”
“He’s got glass in his back, and-”
“He told me that part.”
“No Logan, a piece is, it was lodged in his heart, or around it at least. One of the interns tried to remove it. She hadn’t been being careful. When she pulled it out they realized that they had damaged the heart too badly. He’s bleeding out from the inside.” She lost it. She threw herself into my arms and sobbed into my shoulder. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. I turned my head back to Remy, still lying alone on the pavement.
“Jean?”
“Mmf, uh huh?”
“We can’t leave him alone. Not right now.” She stepped back from me and wiped her face.
“You’re right.” She walked passed me to where he was laying. I followed. It felt surreal, like a dream. A nightmare. I’m gunna wake up, and it will be over. I was looking down at him. He was breathing, but barely. The blood around him was a deep red, and it stained his suit badly. Jean dropped to her knee, and held his hand. He opened his eyes and smiled. I sat down next to her and pulled him close, his head resting on my lap. I looked up at the sky. I didn’t know what to do. “Logan?” His voice was shaking.
“What?”
“Do you believe in heaven?” I didn’t, but I couldn’t tell him that. If there was a heaven, and if there was a God, then why was my best friend dying in my arms? I looked at Jean. I heard her voice in my head.
“Say yes”
“Yes. I do.” There was a long silence. He began to sob. The pool of blood was mixing with the water from the rain and going down the drainage pipe. It seemed impossible that there could be that much blood in such a small person. He coughed and cringed in pain. Jean looked at me and her face scrunched.
“He’s lying on the glass. It’s hurting him.” I knew she could hear me too.
“What should we do?” She stood up and put her hands to her head.
“Just keep talking to him.” She was holding back tears, and her face wasn’t even scrunched, it was twisted in sorrow. I felt Remy lift about an inch off the ground. Not enough to draw attention, but enough to take the pressure off. He coughed again, and more blood came out of his mouth. I heard a dripping sound. Remy’s eyes were closed, but he was breathing. I looked under him. The blood was literally pouring out of him, and it was heavier when his heart pumped. It was definitely cut, bad. I looked back at his face.
“Logan, Talk to him.” She was right.
“Remy?”
“Logan?”
“Yeah. How you feeling?”
“Pretty crappy.” He tried to get a laugh in, but ended up inducing a coughing fit. I could hear Jean crying. I was amazed we hadn’t gathered a crowd yet, but I wasn’t gunna complain. Remy stopped coughing, and looked at me again.
“Logan? Tell me the truth. Am I dying?”
“Logan, tell him no.” I wasn’t gunna lie anymore. He had the right to know.
“Yeah. You are.” His eyes closed, and tears began to flow from them.
“Logan, I said no.”
“Shut up, Jean. He has to know.” Remy’s crying had turned into whimpers.
“Remy?”
“Uh, Uh huh?”
“You are dying” he cried more “but you are NOT going to die alone.” He looked up at Jean, then back to me. “Jean and I will stay with you.”
“So will I.” I turned and saw Emma walking towards us. She must have been listening for awhile. She was obviously holding back tears. She knelt to the other side of Remy and held his hand. "We love you, Remy” she said. A tear ran down her face. She looked up passed me and smiled. I turned to see Scott. I was about ready to stand up and castrate him, but I had to stay with Remy.
“What’s going on?” he asked. Jean burst out crying. Scott started to run to her, but then he looked down at Remy. He saw the blood.
“What happened?” I looked up at him.
“He fell onto the punch bowl and got the glass in his back.”
“Is he gunna be ok?” Emma started to cry and Jean cried harder. A tear formed in Scott's eye, and he knelt down with the rest of us. We were all in a circle around Remy. Jean was the only one standing, but she looked about ready to fall over. Scott and Emma were on either side of him, holding his hand, and his head was in my lap still. I pushed his long hair out of his face could he could see better. Blood was running down his face from his mouth and nose, and tears were flowing from his eyes. The dark sky was suddenly lit up by a flash of lightning from the distance. We all looked in that direction. The sky was a deep blue, and everything seemed so unreal. All of us were just staring at the sky. The thunder reached us. It was a huge crack, louder than I had ever heard before. Suddenly I felt a wave of cold flowed over me. I looked down at Remy. We all did. His chest had stopped moving. He had expired, and none of us were with him. We were all looking at the sky. He had simply slipped away, like the lightning was his life. There in a flash, then gone. Scott stood and screamed loudly. Jean fell to her knees, and she dropped Remy. His body fell to the ground, and laid there. Emma and Jean grabbed each other and cried together. I sat, with his head in my lap. It began to rain... But my hands were dry. I looked up. There was no rain falling. I put my hands to my face. I was crying. I began to sob.

The doctors had grabbed a stretcher in the time we had been talking, and they lifted him onto it. I had a gut wrenching feeling that it was somehow my fault. I turned away. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t let anyone see me. I had to be strong for Remy. I could hear Jean and Emma still crying. My tears were beginning to sting. I stood up to see the rest of the chaos. No one else seemed to be hurt. Scott was off near the dumpsters crying. He pulled off his glasses and opened his eyes to the dumpster. A deep red shot out. It had a blue tinge to it. I suppose sorrow effects his powers. The ray was thicker than his usual, and it seemed wavy, like he was losing control of it. The dumpster exploded. Luckilly we were out of the view of other people. Last thing we needed was another another riot. He put his glasses back on his face and looked at me. He was crying hard. He ran around the back of the school. I ran over to where he was.
“Go away.” He said.
“Look, I just-”
“GO AWAY!!!!!” he screamed at me. He raised his glasses at me. I flew back to the wall. I looked at him, then down at myself. My shirt had been torn down the middle, and the edges singed. My skin was red and bubling. I watched as I started to heal, and the blood poured from my chest to the ground. I tried to stand, but he came over to me and kicked me hard in the balls. I fell to my side, and cried more.
“YOU KILLED HIM!!!” Scott was still convinced I was at fault I suppose. He began to kick my head against the wall. I felt my nose break, and I tasted the blood in my mouth. He kicked with anger. If I didn’t have adamantium on my bones, my skull would have cracked. He stepped back and smiled. I couldn’t get up. I was in too much pain. I felt the tingling of my body healing.
“You bastard...” was all I coult think to say. I spat blood at him. He was too far tho, and I missed.
“You fucking homo asshole. If you had waited till you got home to get into Hanks pants, then Remy would still be alive.”
“You don’t understand. I would never-” he kicked my head again. My ears were ringing, and my vision went blurry.
“I wish you could die. Because I would KILL YOU.” He was serious. I knew he didn’t like me, but I never could have imagined this. I tried to stand again, but I threw up from the head rush I got. My head pounded, and my nose, being the only breakable thing on me, was bleeding more blood than it ever had. He laughed through his angered tears. He was a mess of emotion. He started to walk away, when he tripped. I watched him fall, and he hit his face hard on the ground. He screamed. I watched as he sat up and looked at what he tripped over. Everything was still blurry. He reached for it, and stood. He walked slowly over to me, blood running down his face from his mouth and nose, and limping from the fall. He was crying still, but half laughing at the same time. I saw in his hand that he had something long and thin. As he got closer, I saw that it was a crowbar. He wore a demonic smile. We were alone.
“This is gunna feel good” he chuckled. He raised the bar high over his head.
“No.” Thats all I got out. It came down, and I cringed. It never hit. I looked to Scott. He looked just as confused as me. I looked passed him and saw a blurred person with her hands to her head. The ringing in my ears was starting to die down, but it was still hard to hear her. Scott suddenly flew backwards off of me. The figure ran to me. it was Jean. She knelt to me, and helped me sit up.
“Logan?! What did he do to you?”
“Juuussht ckeeep heeyum oowwfff meeee.” My speech was slurred. My mouth was swelled, and I had bitten through my tongue. She tried to get me to stand, but I couldn’t. Scott was just standing up, and I knew he wasn’t done with me. I was helpless, and although I didn’t want to admit it, I knew it was true. He began to walk over again. I pointed to him best I could.
“Jeeeaannn!” I slurred. She looked at him and screamed. She put her hand up to him, and he stopped.
“Scott, its not Logans fault.” She was trying to stay calm.
“If he had just waited till he got home!!”
“What do you mean, Waited? Waited for what?”
“To make out with his big blue butt buddy.”
“You mean Hank? No, Scott, thats not what happened.”
“Yes it is. He reached for his glasses. “Jean. Move, I don’t want to hurt you.” Jean wrapped her arms tight around me.
“No” she said sternly. Scott was obviously in shock. He had no idea what he was doing.
“Suit yourself.” He reached for his glasses. Jean raised her hands to him.

Scott flew backwards into the darkness. Jean looked at me. She was still crying. My vision was back, but my speech was still funny and my ears rung. I could feel that my nose had healed crooked. “You have to get out of here.”
“I knnnoow.” She helped me up. I was disoriented. Cranial brusing probably. Nothing I could do about that. She kept one hand facing scott, holding him to the ground. He was hysterically crying. I could walk by myself now, but I was still having trouble hearing. My head felt like it was in a vice. Jean and I walked around the school to the parking lot. I looked to the ground to see that I had dropped Rogues glove in Remy’s blood. Jean ran back to check on Scott. She seemed convinced I was fine. We were all a little messed up. I picked it up and looked around for someone who might know where she went. I was hyperventilating by now, and my face stung from my tears. My head was pulsating. I’m not one to cry, but I was losing everything. My best friend just died in my arms, my body was in worse shape than it had ever been in, and the girl I loved , who I had completely forgotten about, was lost and confused, with more personalities than ever before. I could see the forest from where I was standing. I remembered Scott mentioning it before. It was not a large forest, just a nature preserve. I looked at the glove in my hand. My ears rang even louder than before. I was growing angry now. She had pushed him into the table. All of this was HER fault. I clenched that hand in a fist, and I knew that no one was going to help me. For the first time in my life, I was really alone. Furious with Rogue, and drenched in blood, I threw the glove to the ground and ran in the direction of the forest, dodging people and cars as I went.

I reached the first part of the path that lead into the trees. One of Rogue’s shoes was lying in a burnt hole in the ground. She was here alright. The smell of the rain and blood was making it difficult to track her, but I could smell her a little bit. She was close. I started in when I saw a pile of what looked like burnt sawdust. I assumed that it had been a tree at one point, but it meant I was on the right track. I tried to step forward, when I suddenly felt very light headed. The rocks and twigs on the ground around me were beginning to raise and float. She was lifting everything. She was using Jean’s powers. I began to run faster, but it was like running on the moon. I just bounced slowly, and I was getting nowhere fast. I still needed to locate her. I called her name. Nothing. I began to hover above the ground. Suddenly a huge ray of pink light shot upwards from the middle of the forest. A scream followed. Suddenly, everything dropped, including me. I hit the ground hard, but got up just as fast. I ran to where I saw the light. The closer I got the more destruction I saw. Trees literally uprooted, whole sections of ground just whisked away, a few dead caribou. The pink light shone again. There was immense heat coming off of it. Cyclops. Rogue was using Scott’s powers. I came up to a clearing, and was horrified with what I saw.

Rogue was about fifteen feet off the ground, floating. Her head was tilted upwards, and rays of pure energy shot into the night sky, giving the clearing a pink glow. An array of rocks, sticks and clumps of dirt flew in a circle around her. She looked like an atom. Each of the flying items was glowing a deep yellow. Dirt and leaves were spinning around her as well, and they were hitting her, ripping her skin, and her dress, making her bleed. Everything was moving too fast. I was too confused. All I could do was stare. Stare at my one want in life. Stare at the killer of the closest person I had. Stare until my eyes hurt. I lost track of time. She looked horrifying, but almost beautiful. This was what Rogue was capable of. What I had wanted to see for so long. But I didn’t realize it at the time. All I wanted was revenge. I came out of my trance and began to run towards her. Suddenly, she closed her eyes. Her head dropped to look at me. She spoke. “Hello, Logan.” I stopped dead in my tracks. It was Remy. Remy was talking to me through Rogue. When she had touched him, she must have absorbed his personality. I stared at her. My head pulsated still. Her eyes opened, and I jumped out of the way, expecting to be shot with that pink light. Instead, all I saw was a pair of red and black eyes. Rogue slowly lowered to the ground, leaving the spinning objects in the sky, and walked towards me. “Logan. Why did you leave me?” It was Remy’s voice. Was it really him? I couldn’t tell.
“I- I didn’t leeave youu, I-”
“YOU LEFT ME!!!!” With that everything that shone yellow shot at me. Rogue lifted her arms up to the sky and laughed. It was Scott’s Laugh. When things would hit me, they exploded. She had charged everything with Remy’s powers. It wasn’t Rogue anymore. It was everyone inside her, fighting to get out. She looked at me and opened her eyes wide. Scott’s powers shot full force at my chest. I was thrust back. I hit my head on a stone, and everything went blurry.

I watched, unable to move, as Rogue walked over to me. Her bare hand stretched forward. No glove. She was wearing a demonic smile. There was blood all over her dress and dripping from her chin. It reminded me of that movie Carrie with Sissy Spacek. Her hand grew closer and closer to my face. She laughed a laugh that was comprised of about seventeen voices at once. Her face cracked as she touched mine. I felt cold all of a sudden. The pain started to go away. I started to forget. Rogues eyes became brown and the whites yellowed. They went bloodshot, and her brow furrowed. She was me. She stood, and looked around a bit. There was a look of confusion on her face. Everything was moving too fast. She looked down at me. Her lips were quivering, and her... uh, my eyes were watering. She looked down at her gloved hand, and then at her bare one, and then back at me. “Remy” she said. She was monotone. Her eyes closed, and she fell to the ground. She began to cry. Tears and blood dripped from her face onto the ground, and I watched in amazement as all the cuts on her face and arms disappeared. My powers. Soon, only clear water dripped. She looked up at me, her eyes green again. “Logan?” she asked. Suddenly, her eyes turned deep blue. She stood and laughed again. It was Jean’s laugh. Rogue looked down at me once more, and her eyes seemed to catch fire. They became red. Rogue lifted from the ground again, and joined the remaining dirt and rocks. I watched as she began to spin in the air. She span faster and faster until she was only a blur. Then, she lit up. Flame shot from her head. She stopped spinning and looked at me. She was an orange blur, and as the fire died, I saw the look in her eyes that I thought I had put to sleep years before. In touching Jean, she had taken on the Phoenix force, but she had no control over it. Her brown hair was replaced with orange flame, and the white streak with blue. Her body was burning, but with my healing factor, she was repairing herself in the same amount of time that she was destroying herself. There was no reaching her now. She put her hand up towards me and fire shot in my direction.

I jumped out of the way of the fire, and it just missed me. I felt its heat on my back. Too close. The tree behind me suddenly caught fire and fell in my direction. I rolled out of the way, but a branched pinned me down. “ROGUE!!” I screamed over the sound of the fire and the wind. “PLEEEAASE, IT’S LOGAAN!!! PLEASE REMMEMBEER!!” She didn’t falter. It was as if I never spoke. The tree began to grow heavier, and the fire was making its way down the branch towards me. I looked up at Rogue again, only to see her smiling. She was trying to crush me with the tree. I screamed as the fire engulfed my pants. It burned my skin faster than I could heal. She had weakened me. The smell of burning flesh filled my nose, and I heard a crack come from deep within me. I was suddenly winded. I had ruptured a lung. I tried to scream, but I had no air left. My legs were a black mess, and my pants were completely burned away. My lung was trying to heal itself, I could feel it. Rogue laughed that multiple laugh from before. Right about now, I started to think about Remy, and what he had asked me. Was there really a heaven? I hoped so, because as far as it looked, I would be joining him pretty soon. The pressure of the tree was too much for me. I felt my ribs bend under the pressure. Crack. There goes my other lung. I could taste blood, and I felt it running down my face from my mouth. The fire had reached my shirt. I started to cry again. I looked back up at Rogue. I could feel the fire making its way closer to my head. This was it. I could feel my life slipping away from me. I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t move. I could only lie there and die. I closed my eyes, and imagined the hill again. The sky is so orange, and Rogue is sitting next to me in her gray hoodie and purple gloves. She looks at me with a smile. Her eyes are deep green. Less gray than the day on the hill, but I still like it. She pulls herself closer to me. She giggles. It’s her giggle. Her laugh. I put my arm around her and we watch as the sun goes down. Just as it hits the bottom of the hill, she turns to me. Her face glows in the dim light, and her lips look full and soft. “Logan?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.” With that, she leans in to kiss me, when suddenly the trees around us light fire. She screams and jumps up off me. The sky is orange again, but not from the sun. From the fire engulfing us. I watch as the fire engulfs her, and she slowly dies in front of me. The hill was ruined. My safe place was dead. It would never be the same.

I opened my eyes to see Rogue still in the air above me. I couldn’t feel anymore, and the smell of my own flesh was horrid. My crying had ceased, and I knew that this was it. I would never know what it was like to kiss her. The only girl I ever really loved was going to be my end. She was taking my life from me, the life that was supposed to grow older with her. The life that had just lost everything. I closed my eyes to accept my fate, when I felt something cold. Rain? I opened my eyes to see that a steady rain had begun to fall. The fire around and on me was slowly going out. Rogue lowered to the ground. The rain was so refreshing. I turned my head to look down at myself. I was all black and there were parts that you could see my adamantium bones clearly. I looked like a skeleton. I vomited, but only bile came out. The pain was comparable only to the adamantium process, but the emotional pain, well, I can’t even begin to explain. The tree began to lift off of me, and in one swift motion of her arm, she threw the burned tree across the clearing and into the little river that flowed through the forest. I felt my lungs fill with air, and I took a huge breath. my headache worsened, but that was the least of my worries. My skin was beginning to heal itself, and the rain washed all the blood away. I coughed up more blood, and slowly raised myself to my hands and knees. As I healed, I felt the tingling of rain increase. I was naked, but I didn’t care. I had to get help, somehow. I tried to think. Where should I go? Who should I get? I heard a splash behind me, and I turned to look. My body was still healing, and the still burned parts cracked when I turned. Blood poured from me again, but it washed away quickly. Rogue was no longer on fire, and she was only wearing burned shreds. Her hair stuck to her face. It wasn’t fire anymore. Her eyes were red still, and she wore that demonic smile. She walked up to me and put out her gloved hand to help me up. I reached for it, and she lifted me. I stood, but she wouldn’t let go. I pulled, but she wouldn’t budge. Her smile faltered, and then she put her other hand on my arm and flipped me. I landed hard on my still burned back. “Let’s finish this.” Her voice was deep and scary. I stood quickly. The rain was cold on my body, and the wind wasn’t helping. Rogue began to circle around me. I couldn’t have my back to her. She wasn’t herself. “What’s the matter, Logan?” she asked me. “The big bad wolf afraid of a little girl?”
“Rogue, pleeaase lissten to me. I know you’re a litttle confuused right noww, but-”
“Fuck off Logan. Your mine.” Oh, if she had said that about an hour before, I would have been overjoyed. But now, she was out for blood.
“Roguue, I-” she ran towards me and body checked me to the ground. I landed on a sharp rock. I screamed, and she only laughed. She got back up, and circled me again.
“Come on, Wolverine. Get up, I want a fight!”
“Rogue, let mee helpp youu.”
“I don’t need help, I need your head on my wall.” She kicked me in the side. The rock lodged itself deeper in my back. The rain was heavy now, and my ears were ringing again. She stepped over me. I had an idea. It was a long shot, but I had to try. Her ankle was by my head. I reached up and grabbed it. She looked down at me. “I’m soo sorry, Roguue.” With that, I shot out my claws and plunged them into her leg.

Rogue fell face first on the ground. Her scream echoed around me, hurting my ringing ears. She tried to turn to face me, but my claws were still lodged in her calf. She couldn’t move. She thrashed around, dislodging me from the rock and pulling me through the mud. Mud got into the cut on my back. I screamed, but I had to hold on. She was beginning to twist my arm to try to stand up. The burnt skin was beginning to tear as she twisted it, but she continued to stand. She got to her knees, and began to punch me in the side of the head, trying to get me to let go of her. The rain was beginning to pool around me, and my face was on the ground because of the angle she had put me in. I was beginning to drown. Without thinking, I brought my claws back into my wrist and lifted myself. I gasped for air, only to be greeted by a hand to the back of the head. She pushed my face into the shallow water, and held me there. It wasn’t very deep, but it was deep enough to drown in, and she knew it. I tried to get up, but my muscle tissue was only half healed, and she had weakened me from her touch. She pushed my face harder into the wet ground, breaking my nose. Again. I flailed my arms and legs around, trying to maybe slip from her grasp, but inadvertently I ended up making her push harder. I tried hard not to inhale, and it burned. My lungs were still in the midst of healing as well, and this kind of attention was not good for them. Eventually, I caved. I took a deep breath of the thick muddy water. I coughed, and vomited. I could hear her faintly over the fall of the rain saying “Just die already.” I wished I could. I felt her nails scratch my back, and I gasped, taking more of the mud. I was weak. There was nothing I could do. I had always been the strongest of everyone, but now? I was being drowned in mud. Not the way I saw myself going out. The mud was heavy in my damaged lungs. The pain was bad, but still nowhere near being engulfed in fire. The mud tasted bitter, and I could feel bits of twigs and leaves in my mouth. I was sure I had breathed some of them in. Mud had gotten in my eyes and into my cuts. It burned. I felt her hands on the back of my head, pushing. Suddenly, I felt her hands curl around my hair. She lifted me from the mud.

I coughed heavily, mud, water and leaves shooting from my mouth. I sat on the wet ground trying desperately to catch my breath. Rogue stood next to me, looming over me like an owl over a mouse. The rain was beating against me, washing the mud off. I knew that this was far from over, but I was grateful for the break. I vomited bile once more, and laid back. The cold rain bounced off my body. I could feel myself entering the last stages of healing. She wanted me to fight back. She was only doing this so I could heal up and be a worthy adversary, and no matter how much I tried to deny it, I knew I was going to have to fight her. The wind was cold, and it felt like I was freezing to death. I sat back up, and opened my eyes. Every tree within view was burned to a crisp and toppled over. The night was blacker than it had ever been, and the only light was from the distant school. Rogue walked in front of me and looked down. “Get up.” I wasn’t in the mood to argue, so I did. My head pounded, my ears rang, and my skin tingled. I felt like a rag doll. I got to my feet, and braced myself for whatever she was going to throw at me. She stood, not moving. Her eyes were focused on mine. She stayed this way for a minute or two, before looking down at my naked body. “Your zipper is undone” she said. Then she burst out laughing. It was her laugh. I loved it, but I hated it at the same time. I had never felt this way before. I wanted to kill Rogue, the one girl I would do anything for. I couldn’t tell if I was going crazy, or if I was the only sane thing left in the world. Either way, I knew what I had to do. I took one step forward, ready to fight. She closed her eyes, then opened them again. A ray of pure energy shot out at me. I flew back into the mess of burnt trees. I stood and started to make my way back to her, climbing over and under the mangled trees.

I watched as she suddenly fell to the ground. She screamed. I stopped dead in my tracks. She began to roll on the ground, making different sounds and saying things with different voices each time. She sat up and started to hit herself in the head, screaming “GET OUT!!!” She was fighting them. She was gaining control. She looked up at me, and in the most Rogue voice I had heard in hours, she screamed “LOGAN!! HELP ME!!” I stepped over the last few trees, and made my way over to where she was. She was grabbing her head, and scratching her face. She would bleed a bit, but the rain would wash it away. She still had my healing ability, and the cuts were gone as fast as she made them. Her face was twisted, and her scream would switch voices as it went. I looked into her eyes. They were the worst of all. They would be green, no blue, no red, no brown, no red and black, no gray, no green again, all in the blink of an eye, no pun intended. She crouched over and vomited. I held her hair back out of her face, despite it was raining anyways. She looked at me. Her eyes were blue. Jean. She opened her mouth to speak. “Logan, get out of here.” It was Rogues voice. “I can’t stop myself. Go, NOW!”
“No, I’ll help you.” She closed her eyes. “Logan MOVE!!” It was too late. She opened her eyes, and rays of pure energy shot at me from close range. I shot backwards. “LOGAN!” she screamed. She got up and ran to me. I was lying on the ground, looking skyward. She got to me, and looked down. Her eyes were blue again. Jean. “Logan, I’m sorry.” She put her hand out to me. I began to rise into the air. She began to rise as well. We lifted high into the air, until I could no longer see the ground. “Logan. I’m sorry.” She was crying. I had one more question for her. I had to know.
“What did you want to tell me in the parking lot earlier?”
“I love you, Logan.” With that, she closed her hand, and I began to plummet to the ground.

The freezing rain hit me hard as I fell. I felt my stomach make its way to my chest, and I felt dizzy. I watched as the lights of the ground came closer and closer. I hit hard, and I felt the gravel of the road make its way deep into my skin. I tried to yell, but no sound came out. I couldn’t move. I was in too much pain. I coughed, and tasted blood. I could only lie there and listen to Rogue scream. Her screams were devastating, and shivers ran down my spine just listening to them. I made an effort to turn myself but ended up lying on my side, the water pouring into my left ear. I opened my eyes slowly. Light shone from where she was floating. A deep red glow. The Phoenix. I turned my head upward to look. She was hovering high above me, engulfed in flame. “LOGAN!” I heard her scream. She wasn’t moving. She needed me. I tried to turn myself again, this time back onto my stomach. I pushed myself onto my knees, trying to ignore the pain. I knew I couldn’t quite stand, but I needed to get close to her. She was pushing for control, and could use all the help she could get. “ROGUE!” I called. “ROGUE, LISTEN TO ME. I WANT TO HELP YOU.” Nothing happened for a minute. The rain was now warm from being near the fire, and it felt nice on my body. She looked like a demon of some sort. All I could think about was if I would ever get her back. I knew she was in there, but I knew she was weak. We were both weak. I watched as she finally began to lower to where I was lying. The warmth of the fire against my skin was nice. She was about to touch down when she shot back up into the night sky. She screamed. She was fighting them. And they were fighting her back. She rose into the sky until she looked no bigger than the moon, then the fire went out. She began to fall to the ground. I tried to stand, but couldn’t. She plummeted to the ground, and just as she was going to hit, she stopped in mid fall and combusted again. She just hovered in front of me for awhile, and eventually began to float farther from me. I tried to drag myself across the ground towards her, but she was moving too fast. I lost my balance and fell onto my face. She stopped, and let out a blood curdling scream.

Her body began to convulse. The flame grew higher, and I could feel the heat on my face. She began to spin again, but violently. Her arms and legs flailed around, whacking into themselves. I tried to stand, but she sent out a wave of telekinetic energy throwing me to the ground. I began to drag myself away from her, because the fire was too hot. The area had become as bright as day, and I could see that we were no longer in the forest. We were on the highway. The only building around was an old gas station. No one knew we were here, and no one could help us. I looked back at her. You couldn’t see her for the fire. It had devoured her. I watched as it began to spin, and it reached to the sky. She was creating a tornado of fire. The hot air was beginning to hit me hard. She was alone in there, I had to help her. I stood up, and began to walk into the cyclone toward her. The heat was intense, and I could feel my skin beginning to burn. I had a motive to stick to. I closed my eyes, and stepped into the flame. I couldn’t breathe, and I knew I was on fire, but I had to keep going. I could hear her rotating, and the fire felt like it was slowly ripping me apart. The pain was immense, but I knew she needed me. I walked slowly, falling at times from the force of the fires rotation, but I always got back up again. I thought I was lost since I had been in there for a long time. My skin was gone, and my muscles were burning away. The fire was cooler than the burning tree had been, but it was painful nonetheless. When I did end up finding her, I was at the end of my rope, but I feared she was worse. Her clothes and skin were burned away, and her eyes were pure white. There were parts of her that looked skeleton like, and there were no traces that she had ever been a young woman. She looked like an overcooked pretzel. There was an area between the tornados column and where she was floating where there was no fire. I took my post there. She wore a smile with what little face she had left, but her eyes looked scared. There was nothing left. She was an empty case emitting pure power. I stared into her with everything I had left, trying to get her attention. My mouth wouldn’t open, and I could barely breathe, so my only way of communicating with her is if she could use Jean’s telepathy to read my mind. I thought hard. “Rogue? It’s Logan. Can you hear me?” I was trying to make my thoughts seem calm, although I was really having a panic attack.
“Logan?” Her mouth hadn’t moved.
“Rogue!”
“Logan” she was speaking telepathically. She had done it. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know, but I’m here to help you.” I had fallen to the ground by now. Although I was no longer in the full force of the fire, the heat surrounding me was taking its toll on my already singed body.
“How will you help me?” I tried to think of something. I had no ideas.
“You are fighting with all of these people in your mind Rogue. They are a part of your imagination.”
“I asked how you were going to help me.” She seemed so calm, but in the background of her thoughts I could hear other voices. Angry voices.
“I’m not sure, but I’m gunna.” I couldn’t see anymore. The fire was beginning to mess with my thinking.
“Logan?”
“Yes?”
“Remember that day on the hill?” Of course I did.
“Yes.”
“Think of that.” I was having trouble thinking of words, let alone an entire experience, no matter how happy it made me.
“How come?” I was curled into a ball on the ground now, not being able to move, and barely able to think.
“Just do it. Trust me.”
“How do I know it’s really you?”
“Your favourite colour is red. Spaghetti is your favourite food. You hide most your true emotions. Your favourite smoothies are strawberry banana and you're a heavy sleeper, you're afraid of most your emotions, and have difficulty understanding them. You know far more than anyone gives you credit for. You dislike most people who complain, but you're always there to listen. You snort when you laugh. You're ticklish. You're caring underneath your facade. There's nothing you wouldn't do to save those you love. And despite prior thoughts, you do happen to get scared. You may seem mean to those close to you, but you're the most loyal person I know... and I love you for it all. I’m in love with you, Logan. That’s what I really had to tell you in the parking lot earlier.” I let my mind wander. She loved me. She really loved me. Everything was starting to fall into place. Place. My safe place. The hill. I imagined that day. Rogue and I, standing on the hill together. The wind blowing through her hair. She turns to look at me, her eyes wide. “Logan?”
“Yes?”
“Logan, I knew we had no chance with our bodies, and I needed somewhere to fight them all. My mind is too cluttered, so I brought them to yours. Will you help me?” I didn’t really understand.
“What?”
“No time, they’re coming!” She pointed past me, and I turned to look. From over the hill I saw fire. First, Jean walked up, on fire and angry looking. Remy followed. Scott after, and so on and so forth until a small army had grown on the hill. All at once they spoke.
“Prepare to be defeated.” Rogue and I stared into the crowd. Once again she was on my side, but I could still feel that my body was burning, as was Rogues. I knew that we didn’t have much time before our bodies became obsolete, and if we lost, we would be trapped in my mind together. If we lost, we would die. If we took too long to win, we would die. We looked into the swarm and knew that this was it. I looked at her, she looked at me.
“Let’s kick ass.”

The sun was beginning to go down over the hill, and the breeze felt cooling, although I knew it was only part of the memory. Rogue was wearing her grey hoodie and purple gloves, and I was in my jean jacket and plaid shirt. Her eyes looked grey from the suns dimming light, but she wasn’t looking at me. I turned my gaze to the hill's far side where Jean was leading the others to the top where Rogue and I stood together. I didn’t quite understand what was happening, but it was obvious that there was no time to ask questions. As far as I knew, we were in a memory, in my mind. I didn’t know how or why, but I knew that my body was actually on fire, no matter how cool the breeze was.

Jean’s face had no emotion to it, and the fire she was emitting was making it difficult to see who exactly was behind her. I felt Rogues hand reach for mine, and I held it tightly. Shivers ran up my spine as the silhouettes of Jean’s army appeared through the fire, each one larger looking than the next. I felt Rogues hand squeeze mine tightly, and a small gasp escaped her. Jean stopped when she reached the far side of the hill, and her army followed her lead. They all looked as though they had crawled from the mouth of hell itself, standing as still as statues. The heat of Jean’s fire was beginning to hurt, but Rogue and I never faltered. We stood like this for a long time, just staring at each other. The more you focused, the easier it was to tell who was behind the flame. Scott, Hank, Ororo, Kitty, Jubilee, The Professor, Me, and numerous people from school and others I had never met. Every single person Rogue had ever touched was standing before us, even the ones she had suppressed. The orange glow of the sky was beginning to fade, and a deep purple was taking its place. No one moved. I could feel Rogues hand begin to fidget. I tried to think, so she might hear me with her telepathy. “Rogue?”
“Hello, Logan.” It was Jean. “Rogue no longer possesses the ability to read your mind.”
“Jean. I don’t want to fight you.”
“Oh, on the contrary, I know you want to fight me.” A revolting smile glazed over her straight face. “But I’m going to beat you to it.” Suddenly I heard a loud ringing sound. It burned the inside of my ears. I fell to my knees in pain. Rogue kneeled down next to me and started to yell something, but I couldn’t hear her for the ringing. My brain pulsated, and my eyes felt as though they were bulging from my face. Each of my teeth had sharp pain shooting through them, and my nose began to bleed. I grabbed for my ears as in impulse, and began to scratch at them. I couldn’t control myself. I felt the skin peeling away under my nails, but I couldn’t stop. The blood ran down the sides of my face, and from my nose. Rogue was pulling at my arms to try to make me stop. I wanted to stop, I wanted it all to stop, but I kept scratching. The ringing was causing so much pain in my head that I began to scream. I managed to look up from my curled up position to see Jean holding her hands to her head, smiling. Her chest was raising and lowering like she was laughing. My vision was beginning to haze, when I saw a purple hand fly in front of me. I looked up at Rogue, who seemed to be having some kind of nervous breakdown. I could barely see anymore, but I could sure as hell speak.

“TAKE OUT JEAN!” I yelled. Rogue stopped screaming and looked at me. The taste of blood in my mouth was horrid, and the pain in my head was unbearable, but I did my best to look as calm as I could for her. She was hyperventilating, but she understood. Or at least I hope she did. She got up off her knee and walked over to where Jean was standing, cracking her knuckles as she stepped. She always did that before a training session, to keep her joints from overextending. Jean stood, virtually unfazed from the obviously angry being walking towards her. There was a rock at the very middle of the top of the hill, which flattened out like an inside out valley. The rock was no higher than your ankle, but it was easy to trip over. Rogue, of course, tripped over it. She landed on the ground face first. I’m sure she screamed, but I still couldn’t hear, although my vision was returning. Rogue stood, and wiped her lip. She must be bleeding, but her back was to me, so I couldn’t be sure. Jean opened her mouth and said something, and Rogue stopped dead in her tracks. Just then a boy, who looked about 14, stepped out from the wall of fire. He wore a football jacket that had the name ‘CODY’ written down the arm, and the number 19 on the other sleeve. Rogue began to walk backwards away from him, shaking her head no the whole time. He continued to walk towards her, saying things that I couldn’t hear. She was walking faster, but the rock made its entrance yet again. She fell back and hit her head hard on the ground. She sat up and rubbed the back of her head, and I saw blood running through her fingers and hair. I tried to stand to help her, but the pain worsened and a voice pounded in my head. “This is HER fight. Not yours.” I grabbed at my ears again, but this time I was pulling at them. Blood ran down from them again. Jean was making me do this. I began to wonder if my body was doing this to itself, or if it was all locked in the memory. Either way, it hurt, and I had to stop it.

I looked back up at Rogue, who was being kicked on the ground, virtually defenceless. I lost it. I began to stand again, and the pain worsened, but I continued to push myself up. The pulsating worsened, and the blood began to pour from my nose again. I was on my knees now, half way there. The pressure behind my eyes was immense, but I had to push harder. I forced myself to look at Jean. Her face was scrunched more than it had ever been, and the veins in her arms and forehead were sticking out. All of the sudden, she opened her eyes and looked straight at me. The pressure in my head suddenly skyrocketed, and I felt a surge of pain in my eye, and I lost vision on that side. I put my hand up to it, only to find that my entire eye was gone, and was now splattered down my face.

I got to my feet. My peripheral vision was shot, and my eye goo was beginning to drip into my mouth. Jean raised her hand towards me, and suddenly I could hear again. The pressure left, but something was wrong. I didn’t tingle. I wasn’t healing. I reached up, expecting to find a partially developed eye, only to find an empty hole in my face. I could feel the blood still coming from my nose. It wouldn’t clot. I had no powers here. I could hear Rogue crying in the distance as this Cody guy continued to pummel her. She would throw a punch once in a while, but she was having trouble with it, like she really cared for the guy in real life. I heard Jean say something, but I wasn’t really listening. Rogue tried to touch Cody, and when she found that nothing happened, she just dropped to her knees. I suddenly felt a deep pain in my chest, and I flew backwards and almost rolled all the way down the hill, if it wasn’t for a tree that broke my fall. I looked to the direction of the flame, and watched in horror as Remy LeBeau walked towards me, drenched in blood, holding a glowing, blood covered piece of glass.

“’Ello, Logan.” He wore a demonic smile. His skin was very pale, and he had blood dripping from his nose and mouth. His eyes were tired, as though he had been crying. As he stepped, I noticed he had a bit of a limp. This was Remy’s corpse from my memory. When Rogue had touched me, my last memory of him must have morphed with his personality. He ran his thumb up the side of the glass, drawing more blood. Rogue screamed from my left side, but I couldn’t see her. I watched as Remy walked slowly over to me, stroking the glass the whole time. The glass that had killed him, that had punctured his heart. The piece was no longer than four inches, and had a flower design on the end of it from being a punch bowl. Rogue’s voice echoed around me. “LOGAN!! IT’S ONLY YOUR IMAGINATION!!” I knew it was, but I also knew that this zombie of my best friend actually possessed a part of him. His memories, his wants and needs, his personality. I wasn’t ready to give it up just yet. He walked slower now, and his smile was gone. I felt a tear form in my good eye, and a painful feeling in the other one. He stopped about two meters away from me. He swayed a bit, but his concentration on me didn’t falter. His black and red eyes were glazed over, making them a simple grey all over. I could hear Cody gasping for air, and Rogue grunting angrily. She was gaining the power. Remy stared at me with longing in his eyes. I noticed that he wasn’t breathing. He was already dead; there was no need to breathe. My eye socket burned from the tears still forming into it, and the breeze didn’t make it any better. The glass in Remy’s hand glowed a deep yellow. He was charging it. It seemed that only Rogue and I were powerless, but I had to find out for sure. I tightened the muscles in my arm, and I felt the claws begin to move, but they were accompanied by a squelching noise. I looked down at my hands. They were completely rusted, and they had jammed themselves stuck halfway out. They were still partially in my forearms, completely disabling any movement of my wrists. I tried to pull them back in, but they were stuck. I stood with my arms at my side, unable to move my hands. I tried to open my fist, but the claws cut through my knuckles. I closed my hand quickly.

Remy had begun to smile. Just seeing him standing there was hard, but to have to fight him, and eventually kill him was too much. I had been through too much tonight, and I couldn’t take much more. Rogue screamed behind me, and I turned to look. Cody had her pinned to the rock, and was leaning in to kiss her while he was choking her. I went to go to her and stop him, but I was knocked off my feet by something. I fell onto the grass and banged my head. Remy was still standing over on the side of the hill still, but he didn’t have the glass anymore. I felt wetness on my chest, but I ignored it. I got to my feet as quickly as I could, fell, and tried again. I felt very dizzy, and my chest hurt. He didn’t seem to have anything else to throw, so I stumbled over to Rogue and Cody.

Rogue had Cody in some sort of headlock, and his lips were covered in lipstick. He had kissed her. She was hysterically crying, and punching him in the back of the head with her free hand. I fell to my knees in front of them, but neither of them looked. Cody was repeating “Ah love you Rogue” over and over.
“I’m sorry” she said through her tears. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry...” She was having some sort of nervous breakdown. I lifted her off of him, and took my position. I punched him in the back of the head. He vanished into thin air, and Rogue suddenly gasped. What had happened? I looked at my hand on the ground, as though no one had ever been there. I lifted it- it was stuck. My claws were still half out. I had stabbed Cody in the back of the head. I had killed him. It was all beginning to make sense now. When you killed one, it would leave Rogues brain forever. That’s how I was going to save her. I looked up at her. She looked untouched and confused, as though she didn’t remember. She looked down at me and screamed. “Logan! Your eye?!?!” Her neck was unbrused, and her clothes were clean. I tried to figure out why, and came to the conclusion that when you kill someone in here, all memory of them is deleted, including the fight. Every would that they gave you is suddenly healed, as though it never happened. I was beginning to confuse myself, and Rogue just couldn’t seem to get over the fact that my eye was a liquid. I turned my head to look at Remy, who remained at his post like a statue. Rogue put her hand on my chest, and pulled it away drenched in blood. “Logan, you’re hurt.”
“I’ll be fine.” It hurt, bad.
“What happened to your eye?”
“Jean.”
“Why aren’t you healing?”
“Because we have to kill Remy. I’ll be healed then.”
“That doesn’t make any sense Logan...”
“He hit me with some glass, and my powers don’t work here.”
“How will killing him help?”
“In this world, the world we created in our minds, we will heal when we kill the one who hurt us.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Who’s Cody?”
“Cody?”
“Exactly. Let’s go.” Rogue helped me to my feet, and we walked over to where Remy stood. He was still not moving. His white suit was a deep red now, and the only place that remained white was just above his heart. The sun was completely down now, and the only light was from the fire Jean was creating. His glazed eyes glowed yellow in the dark, and he swayed ever so slightly, like his feet were beginning to hurt. Rogue stood beside me, holding my hand, we were both very close to Remy. It was hard to see him like this, but it had been just as hard to see Rogue engulfed in flame. The Gambit we were seeing wasn’t even real. He was a memory. I had to decide right there if it was worth it to kill all that was left of him. He was dead. I knew that, I had watched it happen. The figure I was seeing before was distorted. He wasn’t Remy. He was a shell, an empty shell that wanted us dead. Rogue squeezed my hand slightly, and I turned to look at her. Her face was wet from tears. She looked up at me. “Logan, I can’t do it.”
“Yes you can. That’s not Remy.”
“Yes, it is. You don’t understand Logan. Whoever you killed before this, that Cody boy, I don’t remember him. At all. I don’t want Remy to be lost. I don’t want to forget him.” My mind began to wander. If I killed Remy, she would forget him. She would forget Scott, and Jean, and Hank, and the Professor too if I killed them here. She would forget me. She would forget everything. The movies we watched on the phone, the hill, and the time we spent in Revelstoke, the rain, the pranks, the movie moments that seemed so perfect that they felt unreal. She would forget that she loved me. I had to make a choice right there. Have her forget me and never be happy again, or lose the fight and die knowing she loved me.

Rogue looked at me with confusion on her face, but I knew she understood what was happening. She tried to speak, but she choked on her words. She swallowed and tried again.
“Logan, I can’t do this.”
“Yeah you can, you have to.”
“I don’t want to forget. I don’t want to, I can’t.” She was begining to cry.
“I did. I forgot everything, and look how I turned out.”
“It wasn’t your choice though. I can stop this. I can save the memories.”
“No, you can’t.”
“You don’t understand! My whole life I have been so far away from everyone. I couldn’t get close. My memories are the closest thing to a relationship I have ever had. Everyone I love, everyone I’ve hurt, everyone that’s cared about me. I won’t know them. I can’t loose that.” I was beginning to lose my temper.
“You’re so selfish! You would rather put everyone’s lives in jeopardy than forget. I’ve forgotten before, Rogue. It’s not that bad. Sure you always wonder what it was like, but unlike me you will have a shit load of people who can fill you in. The people you love will stick around.” I was breathing heavily from my spurt of anger. I had tried my best to sugar coat it, but when blinded with annoyance it’s hard to filter everything. Rogue looked into my eye, and a tear ran down her face.
“How could you be so heartless?”
“Because I’m not a sucker for sob stories. Sometimes there are things in life we just have to cope with.”
“If you had known you were gunna lose your past before it happened, you would have probably done the same thing I’m doing.”
“No, I’d take it like a man, but some unlucky assholes would pay for it while I still remembered them.” Rogue looked down at her feet, and sniffled.
“Logan, I don’t know what to do.” She looked back up at me, her eyes a deep red and her face scrunched in sorrow. She fell into my arms and began to cry harder. I stroked her soft hair. I felt terrible for yelling at her, but I needed to be stern, or she wouldn’t listen. I looked passed her to see Remy, still standing perfectly still. He looked eerie just standing there. My chest still hurt, but the cut had clotted over. My mutant healing was shot, but my regular human healing seemed to be just fine. Rogue pushed herself off of me and rubbed her eyes.
“I just- I can’t do it.”
“Rogue, I-” She cut me off.
“But you can. Logan, I need you to help me. I’m not gunna commit mental suicide, so you’re gunna have to defeat everyone.”
“I can’t do it all by myself. I’m powerless.” She said nothing. She stepped closer to me and put her hand on my face. The velvet of her glove felt soft on my skin. She closed her eyes and began to move closer to me. I closed my eyes as well. I could feel her breath on my face. It smelled of peppermint and oranges. I moved closer until our lips met. Her lips were so soft against mine. At first we just held our lips together, until she opened her mouth just a bit. She tasted more of oranges than peppermint. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her more passionately. I knew that this was only in our minds, and that our bodies were actually on fire, but it felt so right. I held her close, and it almost felt like were floating. Wait. I opened my eyes and looked down. We were floating, quite high. Rogue opened her eyes too and looked around. She gasped at how high we were. I heard a laugh come from behind me. I turned to see Jean holding her hands up to us. The army of memories had begun to walk from the fire to the center of the hill. Rogue held me tightly and began to hyperventilate. Rogue's crying had been replaced with fear. I felt pressure in my head again, and Rogue squeezed me tighter. She was pulling us apart. I looked over at Jean. She parted her hands, and Rogue flew off of me, screaming. I watched in horror as she suddenly fell to the ground. She hit hard with a thud. I burst into tears. If she’s dead, then everything in here will take over. I will have lost her forever. I watched her lifeless body for a while. It wasn’t disappearing. She wasn’t dead yet!

I turned to face Jean. The fire had grown quite high around me, and was beginning to get closer to where Rogue was lying. “JEAN!” I called over the sound of the fire.
“What?”
“LET ME DOWN!”
“Now why would I do something so stupid?”
“THIS ISNT FAIR! LET ME FIGHT.” My voice was beginning to hurt from having to yell. I couldn’t figure out how she was so loud without yelling. Must have something to do with telepathy.
“Very well.” I wasn’t expecting her to be so compliant. Then I caught on. She closed her hand, and I began to fall. I hit the ground hard, and I heard a crack come from deep inside me. Had I cracked a rib? I looked down at my claws and found that most of the adamantium was gone, leaving only rust covered bones. I was losing my powers completely now. I pushed myself up awkwardly, my chest ached. That was the first time I actually had to use my useless wrists. I got to my feet and looked over to Rogue. Her chest was moving slightly, and a pool of blood was forming around her. A tear formed in my good eye. I turned around to be greeted by Jean’s army. They all stood just behind Remy, who still hadn’t moved. The fire was enveloping half of them, but none of them moved either. Remy's mouth turned up into a smile. His eyes seemed to unglaze, only for a second. He opened his mouth and muttered, almost completely inaudibly, the word “attack.” He raised his arms above his head and the fire grew higher, like he was controlling it. The entire army began to run forwards towards me. I stood, completely unprepared, but ready to take them all on. This was it.

I stood as ready as I could. The pain in my chest and eye socket was becoming excruciating. The army ran at full speed towards me. I had never felt so alone. It was all me, all alone, against all of them. I had no clue what to do, or who to get first. I saw Remy, Hank, Bobby, Scott. Scott. Maybe if I cleared him I’d be in the mood to fight. The mutants all stopped dead in their tracks. I looked up at Jean, who had one hand down, and one facing me. The humans continued to run. She was using them as pawns, so that maybe I would die before damaging her precious mutant army. The worst part about it all was that I knew everyone there. I had for years now. Classmates, teachers, old friends... This was gunna be hard. First to come forward was Ms.Dootjes. Forget hard, his was gunna be good.

She wore her opened back dress, and in her hands she was holding a staff similar to Remy’s. She took her first swing, and missed. All I could hear in my head was Rogue saying “she’s always hated us.” That was all the inspiration I needed. I ran towards her and swung my arm. I got her in the face, but instead of slicing right through, my arm stopped abruptly. My claws weren’t sharp anymore. I hadn’t been expecting such a sudden stop, and my wrist made a loud cracking sound. I grabbed it and felt the bone moving inside. Ms.Dootjes had a bleeding gash on her face. Her eyes seemed to glow in anger as she began to run towards me. My right arm was obviously useless now, leaving me virtually handicapped. She held the staff high over her head as she ran. I put my left arm out to meet her, but the staff came down earlier than I had anticipated. I heard a cracking sound, and everything went red. My ears were ringing again, louder this time. My face became very warm. I put my hand to me forehead and felt that it was wet. I was bleeding. Everything was beginning to blur, and dark spots were clouding my vision. Ms.Dootjes took another swing, but at my legs this time. I went down fast and hit my head in the ground. My vision was completely gone. I couldn’t see or hear. I was a sitting duck. I felt the staff come down again on my chest. I coughed and tasted blood. I was going to die here, and so was Rogue. The personalities would take over, and they would be unstoppable. I didn’t even want to think about it. I felt the staff come down on my back, and I collapsed. The ringing was subsiding, and I could hear Ms.Dootjes laughing a demonic laugh. It was terrifying. The blood was warm on my skin, and I could taste it. I wasn’t ready to die, not even close. I heard a loud crack, and a scream.

The pain was gone. My ears were no longer ringing, and I could see again. I looked up to see Rogue holding a large rock over her head, and the last pieces of Ms.Dootjes disappearing.
“Are you ok?”
“Are you?” She had a thin line of blood running down her face and a black eye, but other than that she looked fine. She held her hand out for me, and I grabbed hold. The glove was cold and leathery, but her grip was firm. She lifted me up and hugged me hard.
“I thought you were dead.” She began to cry.
“But I’m not, see?” She stepped back a bit from me. Her face glowed in the light of the fire, making her look beautiful. I reached up and wiped the blood from her face with my thumb. “Rogue, are you ok?”
“Yeah... I’m fine.” She looked back up at me and smiled. I looked into her eyes, and realized that other than my missing eye and her black eye, this was a perfect moment. She looked passed me and her smile faded instantly. “LOOK OUT!!” She lunged at me and knocked me to the ground. I hit my head hard, but was relieved she had done it when I saw the ray of pink light shoot over us. Scott. I got to my feet as quickly as I could, and helped Rogue up. Scott had no glasses on, and was walking blindly around with his arms flailing.
“Help me!” he called out. Something wasn’t right.
“Scott?”
“LOGAN!! Oh God, where are you?” I wasn’t quite sure if we could trust him yet.
“Rogue, just stay here, ok?”
“What are you doing?”
“Just gunna go get Scott.” I ran over to Scott and stood behind him. “Scott, don’t turn around. What happened?”
“Jean mind probed everyone.”
“Why didn’t she get you?”
“I don’t know...” This didn’t seem right at all.
“Scott?”
“What?”
“Will you help us?”
“Help who? Who are you with?”
“Rogue.”
“Is she ok?”
“That’s not important, just come with me.” I grabbed his hand and led him over to where Rogue was standing. I didn’t know if this was a trap or not, but even so he had powers, and we could control him. He might be our way out.

The fire was really beginning to get hot. Rogue ran to us and hugged Scott tightly, half crying again. I noticed that she had a bit of a limp, and I figured she must have a broken ankle or something along those lines. Scott seemed a little startled when she grabbed him, but he returned the hug when he realized who it was.
“What’s going on?” he asked. Rogue pushed him off and looked at his closed eyes.
“Honestly, I wish I knew.”
“Great...” There wasn’t time for small talk.
“Scott, can you help us out?” I asked. He turned to face me, although he couldn’t see me.
“Help how?”
“Not sure how... but I-” He opened his eyes. I felt hot all on the sudden, and everything went red. I heard Rogue scream my name. Then everything went black.

I opened my eyes. Everything was hot, and I was blinded by the light of the fire. I rolled myself to my stomach and began to drag myself to the edge of the flame. I felt the hot rocks on the road sticking to my skin, and my arms becoming weaker and weaker with each drag. I could see the edge; it was so close, yet so far. It was slowly becoming unbearable. With one final heave, I found myself lying just out of reach of the fire, although I was still close enough to feel it. Most people would have lost feeling in their bodies, but because my skin kept healing itself, there were always new nerves to burn. Whoop...

I pulled myself farther away, still trying to focus on my surroundings, but finding it almost impossible. I was supposed to be dead. What happened? I should have been gone when Scott offed me. That basterd... SO like him to stab me in the back like that. What about Rogue, she was all alone in there having to defeat all those people, those mutants. If she dies inside, what then? STOP. I tried to pull myself farther again, trying to order my thoughts. My entire body tingled from healing, but I still wasn’t strong enough to stand. I tried to lift myself to a kneeling position, but my arms collapsed. I looked over at the flame, still circling around Rogue. You could faintly see the shape of her, but other than that it was simply blinding. The fire roared loudly, and I heard Rogue scream from inside. That’s when things got weird. The entire flame stopped, like it was frozen. Everything stopped. There was no sound. No heat. No wind. Nothing. I sat for a minute or two, just trying to figure out what was going on. My body tingled like crazy as it continued to heal. I rolled over onto my back, and sat up. It reminded me of ice, but orange. I rubbed my eyes and pushed myself up more. My body was healing faster than usual. I realized I was still naked, but it didn’t really matter. I had to get to Rogue.

I got to my feet, stumbled a bit, and began to walk towards the flame. Inside I could see her body, moving slowly, like she was swimming. It was almost beautiful. A slight breeze began to blow, and it sent shivers down my spine. I felt frozen, and I wondered if this meant I had actually died. I could move, but my mind felt frozen. The warmth of the fire began to return. I moved closer, and slowly touched it. It was practically solid, but it moved with my touch, a little like jell-o. I began to push harder. Maybe if I could get inside, I could get Rogue. It didn’t make much sense to me, but with the evening’s previous events, it seemed worth a shot. I pushed with all my might, but it wouldn’t break, only bend. Then I decided to make things a little more heavy duty. I shot out my claws and pushed one into the fire. It went in easily, but it got hot. Fast. My whole arm felt like it was on fire. The inside must still be burning, and it must be heating the metal in my bones. I pulled my claws out. They were red and glowing, much too hot to put back into my arm. The fire began to ooze out of the cuts I had made in the outer layer. It seemed like lava, just dripping down, but as it hit the concrete it would disappear, like it had never been there. The entire thing began to grow dim, and slowly I was becoming submerged into darkness. Inside I saw Rogue, not moving, but sinking with the liquid fire level inside. The air smelled of smoke, and I began to cough. I tried to cut through the wall again, ignoring the pain. The fire poured onto my bare legs and feet, and I fell to the ground in pain. But strangely enough, just as the fire vanished, so did the pain. I was beginning to confuse myself even more, but I knew this might be the only way. I made a long gash down the side of the fire, and stepped inside.

There was no lava, or fire, or even heat inside. Just Rogue, standing in the middle of the mansions main hall, in her green dress. She held out her hand to me.
“Coming Logan?” I looked down at myself. I was in my suit. “Everyone is in the limos already.” Something didn’t feel right.
“I just had the weirdest dream.”
“Really? Tell me about it later.” She winked her eye. She ran over to me and grabbed my hand. Her hand was warm and slightly moist, and-
I looked down to see she wasn’t wearing gloves. I pulled away quickly.
“What are you, nuts?!” I screamed at her.
“No silly, what’s wrong?” She ran over and tried to kiss me. I pushed her off.
“What the hell, Rogue.”
“Trust me.” I didn’t think I could. That dream had been too freaky. I had never had a dream influence me like that. I looked down and noticed that she was holding my hand again. I wasn’t dead.
“But how?”
“The professor has been teaching me how to control it.” She leaned in and kissed me. It was a pretty aggressive kiss, to be honest. She was grabbing my hair and pulling my face into hers, and scratching her nails up and down my back. She gasped loudly into my mouth, and it tasted a little like garlic sausage. I almost gagged, but I couldn’t really get away. It was nothing like I had expected it to be. The hair on her upper lip felt strange against my mouth, and the nails were beginning to hurt. Wait a minute. I pushed her off me, but I found myself looking into Hank’s eyes. He smiled wide, and burst out laughing, but it was the laugh from before, when Rogue had been possessed in the forest. About a hundred separate laughs ringing out at once, in a horrific sound. The mansion began to sink into the ground, and from all the laughs, one rang out. Jean’s. The walls scattered, and the warmth and smell of fire flowed over me. Angry voices rang out, and I found myself on the hill. I looked to my right and saw Rogue screaming into my ear, but I couldn’t hear her. I looked into the sky. The blood red sky. I was out god damnit. I WAS OUT!! I began to scream it. I WAS OUT I WAS OUT I WAS OUT I WAS OUT!! I felt a tear run down my cheek. I began to hear Jean laughing in my head again. I thought I was out. Mind games are really low, even for her... All I could hear was her laughter, and the angry voices behind it. I thought I was free. It was all part of her fucked up torture. Then I looked back in front of me. Hank had never left. He grinned, kissed his knuckle, and punched me in the mouth.

I went down hard. Hank swung his foot at me, but I rolled and dodged it. I was still in shock from having been out. It wasn’t right, or fair. I couldn’t understand why Jean had done it. Jean. She was the answer. She was their leader, their master. If I got rid of her, it would be easy to get the others. I looked up passed Hank and Rogue to see Jean, still floating in the air, staring right back at me. This was my mind. Why didn’t I have control? I got back to my feet, and walked forward. Hank ran at me, hit me in the face, and I went down again. I heard Rogue scream, and Hank stood over me. His eyes were a deep red, and the blue of his fur was almost black. He grinned a toothy smile, and lifted a rock high above himself.
“This isn’t a dream” he said quietly, then he dropped the stone onto my stomach. That’s when he began to stamp on my head. Slowly, the fiery world began to disappear, as did the noises. Then, one last stomp, I felt as though I was released. For the first time, I felt absolutely nothing. Then the flames returned.

I opened my eyes, engulfed in flames. I looked up to see Rogue floating, twitching slightly. Was this another hallucination? I lifted my arm, only to find it burnt. But I was certainly not in any form of jell-o. I slowly stood up, trying my best to ignore the excruciating pain. I slowly walked towards her, finding it more and more difficult with each step. I was sure I was mostly bones now, and I felt my vision leaving me. I continued, almost blind, towards her. Flames licked at me from every direction. Finally, I stepped into a small section with no flames. My eyes seemed to come back to me instantly. Rogue was floating about 4 feet off the ground, her clothes ripped and burnt, her hair a flame. Her face couldn’t keep an emotion. It would switch every second or two, probably different personalities coming forward, only to be beaten out by another. She looked horrible.

I tried to think of a way to help her, but I couldn’t be sure if I’d be helping her, or the Phoenix... I stood silent for a moment, waiting for my body to heal itself a little. Every second felt like years. Her face looked so tortured, and I feared for her alone in there. Then another thought hit me. I died in there, almost for certain this time. Would she remember me..?

I put my hand up to her face, and touched it. I felt her absorbing me, but I didn’t care. If I died here, I’d be alright with that. At least I’d be with her. I looked down at myself, and then up at her. She looked awful, like all of her beauty had been stolen. Although her mouth was moving constantly, I yearned to kiss her. I felt weaker now. She was taking every bit of me away. I looked into her eyes, as terrified as they looked, and smiled. I pulled her floating body close, and kissed her softly on her collar bone.
“I know you can’t hear me” I started. “But I-”

Thats when it all went white. I felt as though I had been stabbed by a thousand knives at once. I had no idea what was going on. Then suddenly it all went cold. My sight slowly returned, and I saw the flames were gone. The gas station had been destroyed, and the light of the early morning sun was just starting to kiss the earth. Thats when I noticed her. Her body had fallen to the ground, and it looked as though she had broken her legs. I walked over slowly, the still searing hot concrete burning the bottoms of my bare feet. I knelt next to her body, and felt for a pulse. I could feel myself being drained out, but there was no pulse. Her eyes were closed, and her chest wasn’t moving at all. But still she was absorbing me. I head on, hoping she would take on my healing and fix herself. I held on for dear life. Then I fainted.

“CHAPTER 16”

“Logan…”
I heard my name as though it was coming from a distance. Almost a whisper, as though I was misinterpreting the wind. My body felt heavy, and I could feel my head pounding. Small bursts of light filled the darkness of my closed eyes, making me feel dizzy.
“Logan…”
There it was again. Louder this time, someone was definitely calling my name. I opened my eyes ever so slightly, and was greeted by a blinding flash of sunlight, worsening my headache and burning my eyes. I quickly shut my eyes, unsure of what was going on. I tried to remember what I had been up to, but I was drawing a blank. Nothing came to me, and my memory felt like a dark void. I began feeling rather uneasy. What felt like a hand touched my face, and I opened my eyes wide, despite the harsh light. Rogue was staring down at me. That’s when it all came back. The whole evening flooded my brain like a hurricane. I sat up as quickly as I could and pushed her away, feeling the tingle of her absorbing me as my hand grazed her bare arm. She looked confused, and frightened, but I was just as frightened of her. I uneasily got to my feet, only to realize that I wasn’t wearing anything. Too confused to be embarrassed, I stared her down, ready to pounce if she wasn’t herself. There was a bang, then she screamed, and started to cry.

She dropped hard to her knees, with a look of desperation on her face. I watched as her complexion grew pale, and there was a small spot of red on her stomach that began to grow. That’s when I noticed the sirens, and the people standing around us. In the distance I saw a small, frightened looking police officer, holding a small hand gun out in front of him. A thin line of smoke rose from the end of the barrel. I stared into Rogues eyes for a moment before I made the connection. She had been shot. She grabbed at her stomach, and leaned heavily forward, and let out a loud yell. I ran to her, and placed my hand to her face. I felt her absorbing me, yet she looked just as bad as she had before. She smiled, and looked into my eyes.
‘I love you” she said softly, a tear running down her face. I stared in disbelief for a moment, not sure what to do. She wasn’t healing, and I wasn’t feeling any weaker. Something was wrong. It was as though she was blocked from taking my healing. I closed my eyes, leaned forward, and kissed her. At first she kissed back, but after a moment her lips grew cold and her body weakened. And moments later, she was gone.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Why?” I asked, angrily. A week had passed. I had been treated for my injuries, and found that it took twice as long for me to heal. Charles Xavier sat across from me, looking deep into my eyes.
“You yourself were so weak that you had almost nothing left to give. All she took from you were a few memories and that’s it. You didn’t have the power to save her.”
“But I felt her taking from me. I felt my life draining into her.”
“You felt your life force draining, but your powers had not yet recovered from the first drain. That is why it’s taking you so long to heal you now. You were drained to an inch of your life, and then within minutes you were drained again. There wasn’t enough.”
I sat for a while, just staring at him. His eyes looked sad, yet unmoving. After a minute, I rose and walked away without a word.

In the foyer there was a small shrine erected. An assortment of flowers circled two small golden frames. One held a picture of Remy, and the other contained Rogue. Cards and small trinkets littered the area, where people had left tokens of grievance. I stared solemnly at the two frames. My two best friends, taken from me. It was too much. I reached into my pocket, and pulled out a small black glove. I squeezed it in my hand tightly, trying to hold back tears. In a way, I felt like I was holding her hand one last time. I laid the glove down onto the shrine, then made my way to my room. I gathered a few important things, then walked slowly to the schools garage. I hopped onto one of the motorcycles used for driving training, and drove out of the school property. I had no idea where I was going, or what I was going, but I knew I couldn’t stay at Xaviers. I stopped at the gate and looked back. A tear ran down my cheek, but I knew that I had graduated, and now there was a fresh new world for me to explore. I revved the engine, and sped off into what I hoped would be a happy life.