Part 3- ‘These Hands Are Bitter Cold…’
He’d gone looking for a fight, and being what he was he found it. She’d been the first one to raise the alarm and had told the Professor, he’d seen the fear in her eyes, the concern and the both of them knowing what he was becoming; and the many ways in which he was falling apart knew they had to find him.
He hadn’t spoken to her in days, not since that night in the bathroom, the dreams in which she’d wandered and the pain she’d suffered for him. And it was all that she’d expected, and all she could have hoped for. At least he had not packed and left, at least not yet.
But tonight, she had fought against every instinct and shakily headed for his room as she had been used to, only when she had entered his room half expecting to hear his gruff voice to curse at her and tell her to leave, instead she’d been met with a cold room, a bitter silence that hung heavily in the air, his bed was empty, the signs of life non existent, he hadn’t been to his room at all.
And now sat in the Blackbird spying his empty chair she shivered involuntarily once more, she’d seen the way the Professor had looked, seen the way he hung his head when he’d told them where Logan was having pinpointed his location through Cerebro.
And she’d hated the expressions on their faces, Storm, Jean and Scott, the ones the Professor had commissioned to go after him, the looks that said Logan was reckless, stupid and utterly irresponsible to put them all at risk like this.
Magneto, he’d gone to him, Logan had gone to exorcise his demons by inflicting pain and through feeling it. And if he had headed into the lions den he was intending to fight them all, Mystique, Sabretooth, Toad and Magneto. All of them, all at once, he was heading for a suicide mission.
It was what he knew, to battle overwhelming odds, to triumph when it looked impossible, but she knew, Marie, the girl who had entered the minefield that was his mind, that this time he wasn’t going there to triumph, he wasn’t going there to win, but to let them try and end it for him.
They entered the abandoned warehouse, the older mutants in front, pushing Marie back, still puzzled as to why the Professor had acceded to her demands that she be allowed to go after Logan along with them, and now thinking they had to protect her.
So they kept her to the back, walking in a wide semicircle fighting stances at the ready, waiting for a sign they’d ended up in the right place. It soon came, a bloody and battered Toad came crashing through the rotten floorboards above their heads.
He landed by the foot of the stairs, they instinctively braced themselves in case he got up, but he didn’t, it seemed he was out for the count.
Logan really was going at it, the fight that raged from the upper floor of the warehouse was proof of that, fierce grunts, the shouts and sounds of bodies hitting walls. She was the last to enter the room, forcefully kept back by an overprotective Scott, wanting to shield her from an aspect that horrified them all.
But she’d seen Logan at his worst, in ways they could never have imagined, to protect her from this now seemed frivolous to her at least. She stood in the doorway as her eyes adjusted to the situation, and she saw Logan, bloodied, clothes shredded, wild and uncontrollable Logan, the one in the dreams, more animal than man, Wolverine.
He was being choked by an equally wild Sabretooth, his hold around Logan’s neck tightening, the fingers squeezing tighter and she stared wide eyed, seemingly fixed at her post at the door, unable to move, unable to breathe.
She must have made a sound, a strangled sob of some sort because Logan turned to look at her. His eyes snapped to hers and she wondered then if she was trapped in that nightmare again, where his eyes had glared at her as he had lain on the table, as the scientists had ripped him to pieces.
It was that same pained expression, that pitying regret, that same fierce look, bitter accusation. And she knew he hated her, in that moment as she took a step forward, in that instant he knew what it was she intended to do, his bulging eyes warned her to stay back, ‘keep away from me kid, let it end, let him end it for me.’
But she had made a promise as much for herself as for him, she was going to save him, walk the condemned path, the hell he was willing to pull them both through, hoping at least one of them would end up coming through the other side. Right now it only mattered that he did.
He shook his head, watching her slowly approach Sabretooth from his blind side, the animal unwittingly oblivious to her intentions. Chokingly sputtering and watching as she removed her gloves, looking around her and seeing both Magneto and Mystique being kept busy by the others, knowing that it had fallen to her, to save him in spite of himself.
And she did just that, placing both her hands on either side of Sabretooth’s bare shoulders, concentrating, drawing him in, pulling and inflicting as much pain as she could, feeling him weaken, seeing his hold loosen around Logan’s neck, seeing him fall to the ground.
Sabretooth roared in agony, she screamed as the mutation took hold and Logan…he screamed in frustration as he fell to his knees hating her for letting him breathe again, hating her for allowing breath to be left in his lungs.
The light reflecting on his claws seemed to dance in the pale light, she watched him struggle to his knees, and for the longest while all the angles were askew as she rolled onto her back, the physical exhaustion of having to use her powers on such a heavyweight as Sabretooth taking its toll.
Her eyes drifted close as she allowed a healing sleep to take over, it was the briefest of respites as she felt herself dragged to her feet, gripped harshly by the arms she winced in pain, briefly thinking Sabretooth had recovered awfully fast. Instead, opening her eyes she found herself staring into the feral ones of Logan.
His face was a contorted mess of blood and rage, anger against himself and her, she struggled in his grip, fingers flexing as she fought to gain hold, to touch him, weaken him just a little before he crushed her to death.
It was so much like her dream, she almost wished she was back there again, just so she could wake up, not wanting to be thrust from one nightmare into another, she fought to gain a breath, haunted now like he was, sleeping or awake the nightmare never seemed to end.
Still grappling with her, Logan started to move, started to run, and she realised with a growing horror it was not towards the door, but the window! He was headed for the dirty glass at the other end of the room, and he didn’t seem to be stopping!
She shut her eyes, and the sound of his growling, his fierce panting momentarily deafened her before the shattering of glass, the air whistling past her ear, and the sensation of falling…falling, took over.
Down they went, tumbling headfirst, his strong grip not releasing her, not flinching or loosening in the slightest, but still deadly strong, and everything seemed to move in slow motion, she looked up and saw a horrified Scott stood in the gaping hole where the window had been, his face fixed in a disbelieving expression as he screamed her name.
He was going to kill her, he was going to kill them both, and there was nothing in the world she could do about it, so much for saving them both.
And then even as they fell, the motion stopped, the sickening feeling of gravity pulling them to a wretched inevitability stopped and she saw they were no longer falling but softly floating to the ground, it was only when they were deposited safely, and she could feel the solidity beneath her back that she realised what had happened.
Jean had saved them, with her telekinesis, stopped them from hitting the ground, saving them both.
And Marie breathed again, she hadn’t realised she’d been holding her breath, but the thankful gasp she took as she lay stretched out, grateful for the dirt underneath her made her realise she must have. She breathed again.
She struggled to her feet, coughing, shaking as she pulled herself up, and she looked for him, Logan.
She couldn’t see him, in the darkened tall unkempt grass, in the pale moonlight she couldn’t see him, and she held her breath once more. It took only a moment for the rustling behind her to register before she was flat out on her back again, having been knocked off her feet.
And then she felt them, the cold deadly sting of adamantium claws held to her throat, the feel of his heavy skeleton pressing down on her, his feral eyes boring into hers once more, the Wolverine glaring down at her.
His arm drew back, ready to strike, Marie stared up at him, not knowing what to do, and not knowing what to say now, now that her once best friend was ready to kill her.
He seemed to tense, drawing all his energy into that arm, a deadly strike.
Marie shook her head and screamed, ‘James…please stop…JAMES!!!’
Cries In The Night- Wasp
Oooh, I'm sitting down thinking about losing my mind
Cause I keep telling myself I'm only one of a kind
My life is broke because my dreams were shattered
For so very long nothing else mattered
I'm hearing Cries in the Night
I can't wait another day
No, no, no, tell me no lies
I'm standing cold in the light
I lose the dream and I go crazy
I'm hearing Cries in the Night
Yeah, they pull at my hair, and call out my name
They think I'm cool and got worries with fame
But I'm living to lose and dying to win
With these people around here my patience wears thin
I'm hearing Cries in the Night I can't wait another day
No, no, no, tell me no lies
I'm standing cold in the light I lose the dream and I go crazy
I'm hearing Cries in the Night
Yeah, I'm trying to get away, get away from it all
I stand and scream, I'm not gonna crawl
The dream never dies
That's why I sing the song
Like my maddening world, it turns on and on
I'm hearing Cries in the Night
I can't wait another day
No, no, no, tell me no lies
I'm standing cold in the light
I lose the dream and I go crazy
I'm hearing Cries in the Night
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Marie stared up at him, not knowing what to do, and not knowing what to say now, now that her once best friend was ready to kill her.
Marie shook her head and screamed, 'James stop...please stop...JAMES!!!
Marie shook her head and screamed, 'James stop...please stop...JAMES!!!