Sitting by himself in the kitchen by the large bay windows, Logan enjoyed the surrounding darkness keenly as it kept him hidden and alone. His forlorn eyes kept peering up through the windows towards the night sky for something more than the blinking of the stars.

Chomping down harder on his lit cigar he sat back in his seat and took a long drag. The orange ashes burned brightly and the smoke billowed up around him like a shield.

A delicate hand on the other side of the room grazed the wall and a few lights flickered to life as Storm found the switch. He ignored her, even as she paused and noticed his shadowed form. She moved on silently towards the fridge. Grabbing a small glass she pressed it under the ice machine and Logan cringed as the pieces of ice one by one, clanged against the glass, the sound echoing in his head familiarly as the image of Rogue and Graydon crashing through the window flashed under his eyelids.

He hissed low as he reached for the cigar and blew more smoke out, his eyes back on the sky.

Storm’s movements were silent after she’d filled her cup with juice and he bristled at the fact she was still in the room watching him.

“You could at least open the window if you’re going to smoke that thing in here,” her quiet serene voice floated towards him.

Not even grunting he crossed his arms and tilted his head as he eyed her from his corner of solitude. Storm was sitting at the island in the middle of the room, her eyes downcast and drowning in her glass. Her voice had been calm but the expression on her face was anything but serene.

“She’ll be back, Logan,” she whispered.

Puffing on his cigar his eyes slide back towards the sky.

“Do you think I should have made her stay when she’d wanted to leave?”

Sliding his chair back, he stood up and dragged on the cigar once more, before putting it out in his palm, a small hiss escaping through his clenched teeth as his skin sizzled and then healed.

Stepping towards the light that circled the island he approached the other woman.

“Is there something more particular you want to hear from me,” he muttered and he sighed afterwards realizing how harsh his words seemed.

Opening the fridge he glanced at the back and pulled back a hidden beer. Popping the cap off, he turned and regarded his friend. “’Ro, we can’t change the past.”

Tipping the beer back to his lips, he took one generous gulp. “You could have tried everything in your way as the owner of the school to try and make her stay but she may have just resented you in the end. She was a young woman, not a student anymore.”

“But you think we could have done something?”

He sipped at his beer and rested his arm above the fridge door. He knew there was something he could have done and it had haunted him ever since, to know that his absence in her life had been a leading factor in her decisions.

“I wish I had of known,” he muttered solemnly. “I wish I hadn’t been so selfish.”

Storm dumped her glass in the sink and she smiled at him in a friendly manner. “I don’t think she saw you as a selfish man.”

He muttered to himself, as his fingers clenched around the beer bottle in his hands knowing the promise he had failed.

Storm approached him softly, her delicate hand reaching up and squeezing his arm gently. “She’ll be back Logan.”

“You don’t know that,” he growled and shook her off as he stood in front of the windows again.

“Logan,” she began her accent more apparent as she spoke clearly. “I know Mystique’s word is not to always be trusted but she voluntarily...”

“I don’t care what that bitch did,” he snarled over his shoulder.

Storm sighed.

“Maybe it doesn’t, but if you need something more than Mystique’s actions, then believe that Rogue has realized her mistakes as have you. She knows the cost she paid in leaving without a word to you; I don’t think she would jeopardize that again.”

He finished his beer and he heard Storm turn and leave.

“What if all I get is a goodbye?” he whispered.

“Then you will have to make peace with that,” she replied back, her voice low. “We all will.”

She slipped out without another word and although, her words had sounded crestfallen he knew it was the truth he would have to face.

Slamming his beer on the counter he stalked out of the room with sudden intent.


***


“I take it from the level of tension you’re putting out at this moment Rogue hasn’t dropped back in.”

He snarled at Mystique as she lounged on the bed reading a magazine inside of one of the observation rooms in the lower levels.

Stalking up towards the large clear glass panel between them he glared at her.

“Get up,” he growled.

Gradually, she threw the magazine down on the bed and she slithered forward towards the panel, her blue hips gliding with each step.

“You’re really wasting valuable energy, Wolverine,” she replied and smiled wide. “Rogue will be back. Why else do you think I volunteered to be locked up until you’re satisfied?”

Flaring his nostrils at her, he pulled a metal chair up towards the panel and sat down.

“That’s if she doesn’t get caught cleaning up your dirty work.”

Red lips pursed together as she eyed him. “Yes, well I’m sure Rogue and Graydon have things to work out amongst themselves.”

His scowl grew darker as he thought back to walking in on Rogue and Graydon fighting. The surprise at finding Rogue with her hands around his throat, combined with witnessing Gradyon shooting her and the tears of pain in her eyes had been enough to rein back the animal in him and realize his anger was directed at the wrong person.

“Did you tell her to kill him?”

Mystique’s eyes widened in surprise and she chuckled, the sound grating on his nerves.

“Answer the damn question.”

“No, Wolverine, I did not tell her to do any such thing.”

“Besides,” she started by sighing dramatically. “I’m not sure what kind of power you think I have over her, but Rogue makes her own choices and even I have to deal with the fact that she’s not....” she paused and licked her lips. “Controllable.”

“You’re not the only one she annoys with her unpredictability.”

He smirked at her. “It’s good to know she gets under even your skin.”

She glared at him. “She gets under yours too, Wolverine.”

He nodded and sat back with a small smile. “But I kind of like it.”

Mystique scoffed at him. “The two of you will never work.”

Quirking his head he regarded the suddenly unnerved mutant and he realized she feared losing Rogue. It was unsettling that the corrupted mutant before him exhibited fear like any other person.

Instead of walking into her little game of bitter retorts, he ignored her last words.

“Why is it that you and she work, Mystique? What makes her stay with you?”

“Jealous?” she smirked back.

“Interested,” he replied. “I remember the young woman who felt fear after Liberty Island, who turned that fear of you into anger and strength and who wasn’t willing to back down to you and Magneto when we saw you again. “

Mystique’s yellow eyes narrowed and the smirk slowly disappeared.

“Rogue might have hated me at one point, I’ll admit that but she never feared me, how does it feel to know that?”

“Shut up,” she snapped back. “You think you’re given a few inside notes to our lives and you think you have it all figured out.”

He smiled at her with bared teeth as he picked up on her insecurities.

“Who was the woman who attacked Rogue?”

Mystique’s head whipped around quickly to face him. “You can ask her when she gets back.”

“I already asked and I got what I could from her, which tells me it has something more to do with you.”

The blue mutant turned her back and made her way towards the bed.

“Go and find someone else to blame for your failed relationship with her, Wolverine.”

Standing up he watched her for a moment and realized he was going to have to place a small amount of faith in the traitor before him in believing Rogue would be coming back.

“I hope you like the accommodations,” he muttered as he left.

“I won’t need much time to get use to them,” she threw back.

Oddly, enough he hoped she was right.
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