Slamming the door to her room shut behind her, Marie headed straight for her bed. She laid down on her stomach and began bawling into her pillow. She was half-aware that she was ruining the pillow case with her tears and snot but she didn’t care. All she could think about was what had just happened. She couldn’t exactly pinpoint why she was so upset. The news about the cure shouldn’t really affect her, seeing as there was no way she would be getting her powers back. Which was a good thing…right? She was happy with her power-free status. There were no regrets in her mind. None at all.
Yeah, right.
So maybe that was the source for her emotional breakdown. She had been half-hoping that her powers would come back to her someday. After hearing that only those mutants who were really powerful would obtain their powers back, her hope of becoming a mutant once again vanished. But no, she was just a weak ex-mutant who took the cure to escape her pain and appease her boyfriend. Well, ex- boyfriend. And now she had no one and no one wanted her in return.
Marie had been sure that there were other people who didn’t mind her and her decision to take the cure. But after the meeting she just had, new doubts were beginning to form in her mind. ‘Ro had been so eager to assume Marie wanted to discuss her decision to take the cure. At the time it hadn’t really bothered her but looking back on it now she couldn’t help but feel a little hurt. What if Marie had wanted to discuss the cure with someone? Would that have been so odd? To talk about her feelings? ‘Ro had been rather insistent on talking about it “later”. When would that have been? It wasn’t until Marie mentioned the cure’s affects on other, more powerful mutants that ‘Ro was willing to talk to her.
And Hank had been so careful with his words around Marie. As if he was afraid of hurting her by saying something wrong. The thought made Marie uncomfortable. She hated that people had to act different around her. But that’s all she was to people. An outcast. A God-damn parasite.
What really pissed Marie off the most, though, was Logan. He just stood there and didn’t say a single word. She was sure it had been his voice that was yelling as she stood outside the door to ‘Ro’s office. So it wasn’t like he had suddenly become mute in the last few weeks. He was perfectly capable of talking, he just didn’t talk to her. There was that one moment when she could have sworn his features had softened and she was momentarily reminded of her old friend. She started crying even harder at the thought because it wasn’t until now that she realized she missed her mentor. He had been such an important part of her life. But then he left her. Figuratively, of course. He didn’t have a problem with anyone else at the mansion.
But he had still left her.
Just like Bobby.
That thought was about to start a new sprout of tears when her door suddenly burst open.
“What the fuck is that noise? It sounds like a dying bunny rabbit.”
Jubes. Doesn’t she know how to knock? Marie quickly wiped her face for any remaining remnants that would give away her current emotional instability. She took a deep breath to try to pull herself together and then sat up on her bed.
“You know, Jubes, that door was closed,” Marie sighed. She was really hoping Jubes would get the message and leave her alone.
“Yeah, but then I opened it,” Jubes said, sounding confused.
No such luck.
“Is there something I can help you with? I was a little busy,” Marie said, trying her best not to look at her friend. Jubes must have finally realized that something was wrong with Marie because she rushed over to her side and sat next to her on the bed.
“What’s wrong, chica? Your eyes look puffier than Peter’s does when he gets constipated,” she said worriedly.
Marie scoffed at that and turned to gawk at her friend. “Ew! That’s disgusting Jubes. How the hell would you know that, anyway?”
Jubes eyes twinkled mischievously. “I have my ways.”
Rolling her eyes, Marie stood up and put her hands on her hips. “Seriously, what do you need? And what were you saying about rabbits?”
“Relax, chica. I heard some strange noise coming from your room so I came in here to check it out,” she said as she stood up to match Marie’s stance. “But from the looks of it, I think it was just you crying your eyes out. Now are you gunna tell me why the fuck you were crying?” She raised her eyebrows expectantly, clearly impatient for an answer.
Marie averted Jubes’ gaze. She wasn’t sure what to tell her yellow-friend. Finally deciding on the truth, she said, “The cure didn’t work.”
Jubes’ eyes got really wide at that. “What? You mean you got your powers back?”
Secretly wishing the answer could be different, she said, “No.”
Jubes eyes turned confused, “What? Then why did you—”
“The cure worked for me. Worthington Industries just announced that it didn’t work for the most powerful mutants. Seeing as my mutation was kind of useless, I don’t think I’ll be getting my powers back anytime soon,” Marie said. She suddenly wondered how many times she was going to have to repeat this conversation. Didn’t anyone watch TV around there?
Her friend just stared at her, still confused. “How do you know that?”
“Well, it was on the news. The press conference. Worthington himself said—”
“No, not that. How do you know you won’t get your powers back?”
Marie was suddenly shocked into silence. Didn’t Jubes hear her? Her mutation wasn’t powerful enough. “Because my mutation wasn’t powerful enough.”
Jubes just continued to stare at her. Her confusion changed into disbelief. “Are you serious? You’ve got to be joking.”
Marie was suddenly the confused one. “No, I—”
“You don’t think being able to suck the life out of someone is powerful? Being able to kill with a touch?” Jubes said her voice disbelieving. “And at the same time, taking their powers, their memories, their entire life force. That sounds pretty damn powerful to me, chica.”
She had never thought of her mutation like that before. It had always seemed like something that was in the way. “Yeah, but it was completely useless in combat.”
Jubes rolled her eyes at that. “Please, girl. Everyone has their weaknesses. Just because yours is so obvious, doesn’t mean that other people don’t suffer their own battles.”
What the fuck did that mean? Marie was getting more confused by the minute. “Jubes, you’re not making any sense.”
“Is that so?” Jubes said, eyebrows raised. “Well, chica. Do you know what I thought the first time you told me about your powers?”
Marie answered honestly. “That you were scared shitless? Because that would have been a normal reaction.”
Jubes rolled her eyes again. “Ha-ha. No. I thought, hell, this girl has the potential of being the most powerful mutant in this fucked up world. You could go around, steal everyone’s powers, and conquer the world with several million mutations at your fingertips.”
Marie was appalled. “Jubes, you know I would never do that!”
Jubes nodded accordingly. “I know, I know. But this was when I first met you. All I knew about you was that you were stabbed in the lungs with a metal harder than diamond and in the course of ten seconds you had managed to fully recover and nearly kill the person who impaled you. Now that’s pretty fucking powerful if you ask me.”
“Jubes…,” she trailed off. Marie thought back to her first night at the mansion with Logan. It had been a nightmare for her, almost killing the first person she had been able to trust in a long time, and then having him inside her head all at the same time. It had never been her intention to hurt Logan. She had only wanted to fix herself. If she would have held on longer, would she have killed him? She shivered at the thought of that.
“I don’t know, Jubes,” she finally said. “It’s all just too much to take in right now.” Marie suddenly felt really exhausted. “Can we talk about this later? I’m just really tired.”
Internally begging that her friend would understand she was thankful when Jubes’ expression turned to that of concerned again. “Yeah, sure, chica. You get some rest. But no more crying, you hear?”
Marie gave a slight smile. “Sure thing. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After the door to her room was shut and she was alone once again, Marie made her way over to her window. The sun had fallen and the moon had risen to replace it. It was a full moon and Marie wondered if it was a sign of some sorts. And if it was, was it a good or bad one?
The moon’s light suddenly revealed a lone figure walking on the school grounds. They were heading straight towards where the graves of Scott, Jean, and the Professor were. It wasn’t until they had turned slightly to the right that Marie could make out who it was.
Logan. He was standing right in front of the Professor’s grave, lighting a cigar. From where Marie could see him he looked so…relaxed. So much more like himself. Like he wasn’t putting up his big-bad act and he could finally let his guard down. Marie thought back to Logan’s reaction at their meeting earlier. She could have sworn he let his guard down then, for just a second, to let her see. Was it because he had a glimpse of hope that Marie would get her powers back?
Marie’s anger and frustration at Logan suddenly returned. Who the fuck did he think he was? She was getting tired of his shit and felt that it was time to confront him. Yeah, that sounded real nice. Telling off Logan just might be worth it. What’s the worst he could do? Ignore her? Pretend like she didn’t exist? Because he was doing a bang up job of that already.
Her mind made up, Marie headed straight for her door. She was finally going to have a talk with Logan.
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