Marie was running.
She ran and ran, stopping only when she reached the fountain at the far end of the old estate, throwing herself on the ground and sobbing brokenly. She was splintering apart. All the ache, all the horrific pain of that night, came roaring back at her and it was consuming her, ripping away all her carefully made pretenses, perfectly created denials, that she had collected over the years. When he stepped into view, she held out her arm to stop him, using the other to cover her eyes so he wouldn’t see her tears.
“Please, Logan,” she begged, trying to stop crying, but finding she couldn’t. “You have to leave. Go away and never come back, because Ah can’t do this anymore. Ah can’t!” She buried her face into her arms, her shoulders shuddering from the force of her sobs, completely and utterly devastated.
In a flash, Logan pulled her off the ground, holding her weakened body easily against the hard wall of his chest, crushing her to him before his mouth slammed down on hers, hard and possessive. She tried to break free of his hold but he held on, his powerful arms tight around her.
Her body betrayed her, like it always did, to the feel of him. With a moan, she viciously tangled his hair with her fingers, and kissed him back, her kiss full of the pain, humiliation and heartache he caused her all those years ago. She kissed the mouth that she tasted every night in her dreams, tasted the poison that prevented her wanting the taste of another, with a desperation that stole his breath away.
Logan matched her kiss just as fiercely, filled with his own unrequited desire for the woman in his arms. Because he loved her, had always loved the young woman who claimed his heart the moment he promised to take care of her on that train, a lifetime ago. Tasting her again, touching her again; Logan knew he was lost in the paradise that was his Marie, and it was where he should have been, where he should have stayed.
His mouth moved to her throat, biting at the beating vein at its base before sliding over the curve of her neck to tell her roughly, “I’m sorry, Marie. I was wrong. I never should have let you go.” He pushed the silky material of her gown off her shoulder and kissed the bared skin tenderly; trailing wet kisses along her collarbone before returning back to her lips. “I missed ya, darlin’. So much that I forgot how to live.”
Marie was drowning, drowning from the feel of his lips, in the hurricane that was her Logan. His kisses robbed her of breath; the feel of his warm hands on her bare back robbing her of thought. She was only aware of the beautiful, powerful man who was holding her, telling her that he missed her, and that he was sorry for letting her go.
Logan was sorry.
Marie pushed him away. Her eyes narrowed and a growing fire began deep inside her.
“You’re sorry?”
Logan grabbed her back into his arms, determined to keep her there. “Don’t, Marie.”
She tried to break free of him, tried to shut out his words. “Don’t what, Logan? Don’t tell you that it’s too late? Don’t tell you that too much has happened, that you absolutely destroyed me? Don’t tell you that you don’t get to say sorry, and expect to be accepted back in my life? Because that’s not how it works, you bastard!” Her fists pounded on his chest and shoulders, her fury taking hold of her. “You completely ripped me apart! Ah didn’t know how to put myself back together again, Ah couldn't find all the pieces, and now, Ah don’t know who Ah am anymore. And it’s your fault, all your fault!”
Logan winced, but held her tight, refusing to let go. “I know Marie, I know. But I’ll make it up to you, I promise. I’ll do whatever it takes, darlin’. I am so sorry for what I did to you.”
She began to shake, and memories began to rush forward:
She remembered when she first saw him in the fighting cage, almost shot by the bar owner, screaming out to save his life,
No. You didn’t
She remembered how he tried to grab her hands, to warm up by his truck’s heater vent,
What kind of name is Rogue?
She remembered when he found her in the train, promising to take care of her,
Yeah kid, I promise
She remembered his prone form, wounded and bleeding on the Statue of Liberty after saving her life,
Come back Marie, come back
She remembered him giving her his dog tags for safe keeping the first time he left,
I’ll be back for these
She remembered him comforting her when his nightmares invaded her sleep,
Scooch over kid, I’m stayin’
She remembered his grief over the beautiful Jean Grey, not once but twice, rejecting her attempts to comfort him,
I’m fine kid
She remembered how mean he was to her when she fought alongside him on missions,
Yer too cocky, Rogue
She remembered his tenderness when she retreated into herself when her father came for her,
I’m here Marie, I’m here
She remembered his jealousy when Remy kissed her,
He’s not right for you, Marie
She remembered him touching her,
Tell me you like this
Pleasuring her,
You want only my touch
Tasting her,
I need you, I need you
Begging him, asking for just one night, one night with him,
No
And she remembered him walking away.
Coldness flooded through her, strong and encompassing.
“No,” she whispered.
Logan stared at her, his body tense, his breathing harsh.
“No,” she repeated. She looked into his eyes, her own frosting over.
A shadow fell across his face. “You want me, Marie.”
“Yes,” she admitted, the coldness in her eyes now in her voice. “Ah want you, Logan. Ah never stopped wanting you. But you taught me how to live without you.”
Growling, he pushed her up against the back wall of the garden, pinning her with his body. “I won’t let you, Marie. You belong with me!” He roared the words, his hold on her upper arms tightening painfully before he was able to calm down. His eyes were pleading now, begging her to listen to him.
“Please understand, Marie. I thought I was protecting you. I thought you would be safer, away from me. I thought I was doing the right thing, darlin’.”
Ice gave way to fire in her eyes. She pressed herself against him, feeling him hard and big against her thigh. She looked at his lips, and licked her own, leaving them wet and glistening. “Instead of being deep in thought all these years, sugah,” she told him huskily, her voice a sexy rasp, “You could have been deep, deep inside of me.”
He sucked in his breath. With a tortured groan, he lowered his mouth to capture hers again, but she turned away, cold once more.
“Let me go.” She kept her face averted from him, her voice emotionless.
“No.”
“Ah will never forgive you.”
“NO!”
His mouth came down hard on hers, punishing and cruel. She could taste blood from where her lip split from the violent contact, copper and metallic. She knew the Wolverine was threatening to take over, but she was much more afraid of the feral deep inside her that was shrieking for its mate. She could feel it scraping viciously forward, stronger than it had ever been before.
She needed to get away.
His head snapped back as she drew out his strength, keeping her mouth on his. Terrible convulsions grabbed hold of him, blackened veins streaking across his face and body as he tried to break free, but she didn’t let go, opening up her mutation completely. Crying, she stepped away from him and he fell to his knees, gasping for air. She clutched at her head as he howled in her mind, demanding that she stay with him and she screamed, stumbling away, unprepared for how powerful the Wolverine would be in her mind. This time she obeyed her instincts and took off at a dead run.
“Marie!” Logan bellowed after her, forcing himself back onto his feet. His head felt like it would explode from the pain to stay conscious, but he had to stop her.
Logan obeyed his own instincts. Mine. The Wolverine lunged forward, snarling.
Hearing him, she ran faster. Marie ran towards the front entrance of the Conservatory where she caught the familiar form of the X-Men leader, about to get into her Maserati.
“Scott!”
Startled, he spun around to see her emerge from the back garden. “Please help me, Scott.” She fell into him, pressing her forehead against his chest, breathing hard and crying softly. “Please, take me home.”
Holding her close, he opened the passenger side door of the vehicle and placed her gently inside. When he sat down and closed the driver’s side door behind him, she pulled his face down to hers and kissed him. Kissed him as though she was starving, whimpering when the Wolverine in her mind roared in fury.
The real Wolverine staggered out from the garden, and seeing Marie in Scott’s arms, a murderous rage came over him. His claws shot out, but a wave of dizziness caused him to waver. Bobby caught him before he fell to the ground, both men falling to their knees from the tremendous weight of his adamantium frame. He felt someone touch his shoulder and he struggled to focus on Kitty’s concerned face, fighting the unconsciousness that threatened to overcome him.
“Let her go, Logan. If Scott is who she wants, you need to accept it,” she told him gently. The convertible tore out of the parking lot into the night, its red tail lights bright and retreating against the darkness.
He growled, the sound ferocious and savage. He stepped away from Kitty and Bobby, whose arm iced over protectively in front of his wife. Staring after the disappearing vehicle, his eyes darkened completely into solid black discs.
“Never.”
He turned his back to them and leapt into the shadows. The Wolverine was in control now.
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