Faster. She had to move faster. If she didn’t get there in time, he would be dead. And it would all be her fault. She pushed her feet to move as fast as they could go. Just a little bit farther…
She saw him lying on the ground, flat on his stomach, twitching and shaking uncontrollably. He cried out in agony. No, she was too late. It was already happening. She rolled him over and saw the pain very clear on his face. His shut eyes flew open and he looked at her. She was screaming his name, pleading with him to stay with her. He couldn’t leave her. He couldn’t die.
His eyes rolled back in his head and his whole body went limp. His chest had stopped moving up and down. She was too late. He was dead. Her screams and cries were deafening to her ears. She had failed him.
“NOOO!!!”
“Marie! Marie, wake up!”
Someone was shaking her.
“Come back! No!”
“Marie, damnit, wake up!”
Her eyes flew open and she noticed a figure huddling over her in the dark. She continued her screaming and began kicking and shoving at the person above her. Her attacker cringed back in pain when she kneed him in the sack and she scrambled out of the bed to the opposite side of the room. Her breathing was accelerated and she was drenched in her own sweat. She couldn’t see very clearly in the dark and she wondered where she was.
Her attacker, still recovering from the pain, started heading toward her. Marie backed up into the corner as far as she could.
“Don’t come any closer! I mean it!”
She saw him stop and raise his hands in defense. “Whoa, kid, chill out. It’s just me. I’m not gunna hurt you,” came the voice of Logan.
He walked towards the door and flicked on the light switch. Adjusting her eyes to the sudden brightness, Marie saw that it was indeed Logan.
“But…you’re dead,” Marie said confusedly, still breathing quite rapidly.
Logan’s confusion matched hers. “What? Kid, I’m standing right her—”
“Don’t lie to me! I saw you die!” She screamed at him, sure of her words. She had seen him go limp on the ground. She had seen him breathe his last breath.
He began to walk towards her slowly. “Marie, I’m not dead. You were having a nightmare. I came in and saw you thrashing on the bed, screaming. I tried to wake you up and then you attacked me. Whatever you were dreaming kid, it wasn’t real,” he told her calmly, most likely afraid of another outburst.
She scanned the room and noticed the bed sheets all messed up from her thrashing. By the look of the completely dark sky outside the window, she could tell she had fallen asleep for several hours. So maybe she had been dreaming. But it had felt so *real*. She had never had a dream like that.
Taking a deep breath let the tension leave her body and relaxed. “Okay. I believe you. I’m okay now,” she said, closing the distance between them. He was scanning her with a doubtful expression, probably questioning her sanity. Feeling the need to convince him that she was telling the truth, she put a fake smile on her face.
“Really, Logan. It was just a bad dream. That’s all,” she said.
He raised his eyebrows and scoffed at that. “Must’ve been one hell of a dream. You were screaming like it was the end of the world. Seriously, kid, what the hell were you dreamin’ about?”
Marie averted her eyes, unsure if she should tell him the truth. Should she tell him that she had dreamed about his death? What would he make of it? Deciding it was best to be honest, she said, “It was about you.”
This sure took him by surprise. He took a step back and scrunched up his eyebrows. “You had a nightmare about me?” His expression suddenly changed fearful as if he had just realized something. “Was it one of my nightmares? From the lab? I know you had them for awhile after I touched you, but I had thought they would be gone by now.”
Marie thought about telling him that she still did get those nightmares once in awhile, but decided it was pointless to worry him about it. She answered honestly, “No, it was something different. Something that felt so…real. And the thing is…I don’t think that this isn’t the first time I’ve had this dream.”
Logan’s expression turned to that of concern. He reached his hand out to push an escaped lock of hair out of her face. Marie tried not to blush at his touch, but she couldn’t help it. Lowering his voice he said softly, “Do you wanna talk about it?”
Marie held his gaze for a few moments before looking away. She really needed to sit down. She made her way over to the bed and sat down, Logan following right behind her, sitting to her left.
“I don’t know. I don’t really know how to explain it,” she began, trying her best to remember the dream in details. “I’ve had this dream twice now, except this time it went further than the last.” She looked up at him. “Actually, the last time I had this dream you woke me up. It was that morning you came knockin’ on my door, askin’ me about helping you with the motorcycle.”
Logan thought about his before nodding and saying, “Go on.”
“Well, both times it began the same way. I was running, running really fast. I was trying to reach you,” she said. “You were lying on the ground, unconscious. Then all of the sudden you woke up and you were…” she was at a loss for words. How could she describe the pain she witnessed him go through?
“You were in pain and I couldn’t do anything to save you. I had to watch you die slowly, in pure agony. There was nothing I could do.” A single tear trailed down her cheek, only to be rubbed off gently by Logan’s thumb.
She blinked her eyes several times, preventing any more tears from escaping. She took a deep breath. “Sorry. You must think I’m a wimp. Crying over a stupid dream,” she mumbled, looking anywhere but at those mesmerizing hazel eyes.
Logan drew her closer into his arms and against his chest. He rubbed the small of her back gently while she steadied her breathing. He spoke gently into her hair. “It’s okay, kid. I sure as hell don’t think of you as no wimp. But that’s all it was, Marie. It was only a dream,” he said. He pushed her chin up slightly so he could meet her eyes with his. He held her gaze for a few moments before placing a light kiss on her forehead. Her cheek’s reddened and when he drew away and stood up she found herself longing for his touch.
He reached out a hand and Marie, still a little flustered, grabbed it as he helped her to her feet. Logan smiled down at her and said, “Now, how about we grab a bite to eat. After the crazy day that we’ve had, I think we deserve a little treat. Ya up for it?”
Marie’s smile matched his. How could she turn down an offer to hang out with Logan? Besides, she was starved. “Sure. Lemme just run up to my room and freshen up a little.”
As she was heading for the door she heard Logan ask from behind her, “Hey, kid, that reminds me. What were ya doin’ sleepin’ in my bed in the first place?”
Marie blushed slightly before turning around to face him. He had an amused expression on his face and one eyebrow raised. Marie had to hold back the urge to stare at him like an idiot, with how adorable he looked. Instead, she chuckled slightly before answering him.
“Well, after the professor dismissed us, I wanted a place to relax and clear my head. I knew Jubes would be waiting up in my room for me, since she missed out on the meeting with the professor and everything. I wasn’t really up for dealing with that, so I came up here to find you. As you already know, you weren’t in your room, so I decided to wait for you, figuring you had to come back eventually. I guess I fell asleep while I was waitin’.”
She really hoped he wouldn’t get upset with her or anything. After all, it had just been an accident. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep in his bed. It just sort of…happened.
She didn’t expect his reaction at all. Not only did he not get upset, but he approached her and, placing a hand on her shoulder, said, “I understand, kid. And if you ever need to clear your head again, or just need to, I don’t know…get away from it all, me and my room are always available.” He smiled, and she could tell he was being genuinely sincere.
She felt touched by his kindness. “Thanks,” she beamed. With that, she turned around and headed for the door. “I’ll meet you in the garage in fifteen minutes.”
“Sure thing, kid.”
******************************************
“Hi! Welcome to Phil’s Burger Palace. What can I getcha’ to drink?” The perky waitress hovered above them, all smiles. Marie wondered if she got paid extra to be this cheerful or if it was just a part of her personality. Regardless, the blonde waitress kind of irritated Marie.
“I’ll take a beer,” said Logan, with an annoyed look on his face. Marie could tell that Miss-Perky was bugging him too. The thought made Marie smile.
“A coke, please,” said Marie, just wanting the waitress to leave. Her wishes were granted when the waitress smiled and said the drinks would be right out before walking away.
“Some people are just too happy,” she muttered under her breath. Logan chuckled at her remark.
“Relax, kid. When’s the last time you’ve enjoyed yourself?”
Marie thought seriously on his question. “Probably working on that motorcycle, with you.” She realized a little too late that his question had been rhetorical.
Logan stared at her a little funnily, but before he had the chance to reply, their perky waitress had returned with their drinks.
“Here’s a beer for you and a coke for the little miss,” she said, placing their drinks on the table. “Do ya’ll know what you’re gettin’ to eat?”
After they had given their orders and the waitress was out of earshot, Marie grumbled, “Little miss? Who does she think she is?”
Logan snickered and Marie shot him an accusing look. “What? Oh, come on. It’s kinda cute.”
Her eyes narrowed before she shook her head and said, “Cute? Really? I didn’t even think that word was in your vocabulary.”
Logan chuckled again, still playful. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, kid.”
Marie was suddenly serious. She looked at him curiously. “Tell me something, then. About yourself.”
He shifted in his seat and his expression turned guarded. “What do you want to know?” He said warily.
She thought about his question. Even before their one month silence they hadn’t really shared and talked about themselves that much. Marie suddenly realized that there was a lot she didn’t know about her so called friend.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Wait, I got one. What’s your first memory?”
She could tell he hadn’t been expecting this question. Actually, she didn’t really know where it came from. After she had asked it, though, she found herself extremely curious.
“You don’t wanna know, kid,” he grunted. She wasn’t going to give up that easily.
“Oh, come one, Logan. You can tell me. I want to know,” she said, hoping that he would respond to her wishes.
Logan looked at her for a moment, thinking, and Marie could tell that he was really considering answering her question. Finally, he said, “Alright. I’ll let you ask me all the questions you want. On one condition, though.”
Now it was Marie’s turn to be cautious. “And what would that be?”
He stared at her right in the eyes when he answered. “For every question you ask me, I get to ask you a question in return. If I answer, you gotta answer.”
Marie thought about it. How bad could it be? She didn’t have anything to hide…right? Shaking away any doubts she said, “You got yourself a deal.”
Logan smiled, clearly satisfied, before his expression turned serious as he thought about an answer to her first question. “My first memory…,” he began. “Well, it’s kinda blurry. I just remember running through the woods and happening upon some old farm. I had no idea who I was or why I was running, or what I was running from. Anyway, turns out some old couple lived at the farm. I was a bit hesitant at first about trustin’ them, but they seemed pretty sincere. They gave me a place to stay for a few days while I gathered myself and thought of a plan of action. They were nice people, and when I left, they even gave me a motorcycle.”
Logan was staring off into the distance, lost in the memory. It took him a few moments before he snapped out of it and cocked a grin at Marie. “Well, I answered your question. Now you gotta answer mine.”
Marie still had so many questions to ask about the people who had first taken care of Logan. She was grateful for them and wanted to thank them somehow, even though that was over fifteen years ago and they were probably dead by now.
She stared up at Logan and braced herself for his question. “Okay, shoot.”
It took him only a few seconds to think before asking, “What scares you?”
Marie thought hard on his question. “There are a lot of things that scare me, Logan. Apart from the obvious, like spiders and public speaking, other stuff scares me, too.”
“Like what?”
“Well, like where my life’s going. What my future plans are. I’m also scared for other people. Every time you, or Jubes, or someone else that I care about goes out on a mission, I’m always afraid they’re not gunna come back. I’m afraid of the war going on between humans and mutants, and for all of the little children who come into the mansion that have been rescued from labs and have seen more evil than anyone can handle in a lifetime.”
Her eyes met his before looking away. “But lately the one thing that scares me the most is that I have no control. I have no control about whether my powers are coming back or if they’re gone for good. I’m afraid that one day I’ll be touching someone and all of the sudden my powers will turn back on. And I’ll have hurt someone I care about. And then the whole mansion will realize that I’m not normal, even for a mutant’s standards. They’ll realize just how dangerous I am and they won’t want me around.”
Marie went quiet and refused to look at Logan. She had just divulged all of her fears to him and she was nervous for his reaction. Logan, however, reached across the table to hold her hand in his. The gesture made Marie look up and stare at him directly in the eyes. His expression had softened.
“Listen, Marie. All of those things you just said, well, it’s completely normal to have those fears. You’re not the only one who is afraid of the world,” he said gently, trying to make her understand his words. “And about the cure and your powers…let’s not worry about that for now. Whether you remain power-free or become a mutant again, people will still love you. You have some good friends, kid. And they’re not gunna turn their backs on you.”
Marie was touched by his sincerity. She half-smiled and said, “Okay. Thanks.”
Logan held her gaze a little longer before grinning in return. “No problem, kid. I think it’s your turn to ask.”
Before Marie could even think of a question, their food arrived. The perky-waitress smiled and let out a “Hope ya’ll enjoy!” before retreating away from their table.
Marie picked up a hot fry and placed it in her mouth, enjoying the warm and crispy taste. She was eager to eat her burger and fries. She looked over at Logan’s food across the table. He had ordered the steak, which looked equally as appetizing.
Taking a bite of her burger she contemplated about what to ask him. “Have you ever been in love?” She was curious to know.
Logan raised his eyebrows before rolling his eyes. “Are you serious?”
“What? Of course I’m serious.”
Logan grunted, “Being in love’s overrated, kid. It don’t exist.”
Marie looked insulted with his answer. “That’s not true, Logan. Love does exist.”
“I didn’t say *love* didn’t exist. I said being in love don’t. There’s a difference.”
“I don’t see how,” she said, scrunching up her eyebrows.
Logan gave an irritated sigh. “Look, kid, it’s like this. People love each other all the time. They care for each other. Like a mother loves their child. They would do anything to protect that child and make them happy. When people say they’re *in* love, it’s all a bunch of bullshit. You can’t be in and out of love. True love is when you love someone, no matter what. It’s unconditional love.”
Marie started at him. She couldn’t believe she was actually getting a lesson on love from Logan of all people. He seemed like the last person who would know a thing about it.
“So, to answer your question, no. I’ve never been in love.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Where did you get all this insight about love?”
“Ah-ah-ah. You already got your question. It’s my turn now.”
The perky waitress had come back to collect their plates and give them the check. Before she could walk away Logan took out his wallet and paid her in cash. Murmuring that she could keep the change he got up out of the booth and Marie followed suit.
Walking across the parking lot towards the car Logan thought about his next question. When they had finally reached the car he said, “I wanna know everything that happened during your time on the road. Before I met you.”
Marie was taken aback by his request. “Technically, that’s not a question,” she mumbled.
Logan rolled his eyes. “Sorry I ain’t no English teacher, kid. Just answer me.”
Taking a deep breath she thought back to the worst eight months of her life. “Some days it was boring, some days it was scary. It was always hard, and cold, and I was always, always hungry,” she said, a cold shiver running down her spine at the memory.
“The first few weeks weren’t that bad. I had started the trip with some money and had used some of it to take a train up to the northern U.S. It wasn’t until I reached southern Wyoming that things started to go downhill. I had been at the train station, getting ready to make a connection, when someone attacked me from behind. I got a few good punches in but, well, I hadn’t had my X-Men training yet and I wasn’t the best fighter,” she chuckled darkly.
“I remember at first I was just glad they hadn’t killed me, or worse. They had just taken my purse. I was happy to see they hadn’t taken my duffel, but all of my money was in my purse. Even my train ticket. Suddenly I found myself with no money and nowhere to go,” she said, remembering how scared she had been.
She looked at him honestly. “It was never my intention to hitchhike. I was smarter than that, I knew the dangers it involved,” she told him, trying to convince him that she wasn’t stupid. “But I just became so desperate. I was walkin’ along the side of the road a few days after I was jumped. I hadn’t eaten in days and it was pouring down rain. This guy in a truck pulled over and rolled down his window, askin’ me if I wanted a ride. I didn’t care about the consequences. I just got in.”
She chose her next words carefully. “Everything was going…okay, so to speak. He had given me some pretzels he had and it was nice and warm in the truck. He asked me a few questions, like where I was headed and how long I had been on the road, but mainly we kept the conversation to a minimum. It wasn’t until a couple hours in that things started to go bad.”
She tried to go on but found it difficult. It had been really scary for her and she didn’t like thinkin’ about it. After a few minutes had passed and she still hadn’t spoken Logan spoke up.
“It’s okay, Marie,” he said gently. “Just get it off your chest.”
Taking a deep breath she nodded before continuing. “Well, after a couple of hours, he asked me if I had ever hitchhiked before. I answered him honestly, telling him it was my first time. I thought that he was just curious, but it turned out it was wrong. I remember him smiling and saying the next bit quite normally. He said, ‘then you don’t know the rules yet.’ I looked at him and asked what rules he was talking about and he just ignored me.
“We kept driving for awhile. I think I had fallen asleep because when I woke up we were stopped at some truck stop. I opened my eyes to find the guy staring at me in a way that really freaked me out. He said ‘it’s time to pay for your ride.’ Being the idiot that I was I told him I didn’t have any money. He just stared at me a little longer before he reached across the truck to pull at my shirt. That’s when I realized what he wanted and so I became freaked out. I started attacking him. He fought back and even gave me a black eye. I was so scared that I took his keys and stabbed him in the eyeball. I’m pretty sure he’s blind in that eye,” she chuckled, unsure why she was laughing at such a horrid memory.
“I managed to go three months without hitchhiking again. Well, I was still gettin’ rides from people, just without they’re knowing. Kinda like how I did with you, sneakin’ into the back of your trailer,” she said. “Anyway, it had been another night like with the first guy. Only this time it was snowing and I hadn’t eaten in nearly a week. I was extremely weak and when some guy offered me a ride and a bite to eat, I couldn’t refuse. I just needed to survive.
“This guy wasn’t bad at all. He took me through a drive through and got me some food and drove me farther up north. He asked where I was headed and I just said…north. I drove with him for a couple of days. He was the guy who helped me sneak across the border. I snuck in his trunk and remained undetected. He left me near a town where I could get another ride,” she recalled.
“After that, I began hitchhiking some more. Yeah, there were a couple more close calls, but it was never as bad as the first guy. Both of the other two had just asked me if I wanted to hook up, and when I turned them down, they simply just dropped me off at the closest town. When I got to Laughlin City I was expectin’ a bit more of, well you know, a city. I needed a ride and whenever I realized that you were a mutant I knew that you were the one. I hadn’t met another mutant during my eight months on the road and I felt drawn to you.”
Marie looked up at Logan, finally done with her story, when she noticed something was wrong. Logan was not quite staring at her, but off to her right, and his body was trembling. He looked angry.
“Logan?” Marie asked, alarmed.
No response.
“Logan, snap out of it!”
Logan’s hazel eyes shot down to meet hers and his expression softened at her concerned expression. His body stopped shaking.
“Logan? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Sorry, kid.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said, still worried. “Why were you acting like that?”
He looked away from her. “Sorry. You’re story just…upset me. That’s all.”
She frowned. “Don’t be upset. It happened a long time ago. I’m happy now. That’s all that matters.”
Logan half-smiled. “You’re right, kid. I just wish I could have been there to protect you, that’s all.”
“Well, you hadn’t met me yet, so technically you didn’t break your promise.”
He looked at her seriously before saying, “And I never will.”
She held his gaze before blushing and looking away. “Come on, let’s go. If we hurry up we might be able to catch the last few minutes of the game.”
“I’m glad you know me so well, kid.”
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