Dining Hall
First Floor
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
7:25 P.M.
Charles heard her mental projection of her realization of her parents’ death. He immediately called for Hank through that same telepathic phone line. She was going to need something to calm her down and relax her body so that she could rest. He had a feeling it wouldn’t be long until she had hit the next stage.
Logan was in the main hall getting ready to go out for an after dinner cigar as the students let out after dinner. He spotted a determined Hank trying to get through the crowds of students.
“Hey, listen up,” he roared at them. “Move it! The Doc’s gotta get through!”
To Hank’s amazement, the students parted like the Red Sea.
“Thanks Old Man,” he hollered back as he headed up the stairs.
Logan wondered where he was going in such a hurry. Marie hadn’t gotten sick had she? She’d said she was going to try calling her mother again. He’d done what she’d asked and tried to call Marie’s mother to appease her, but he knew he wouldn’t get through. So he’d reluctantly let her go early from dinner to call. He followed Hank up but stopped on the next to the top step of the staircase. As soon as he heard her tears start, Logan felt the guilt monster hit his chest. He wondered if he should put the cigar on hold or stay with her now… The Wolverine won out; cigar time it would be.
Alkali Lake, Canada.
After The Dam Broke…
Several Years Ago…
12:00 P.M.
While near a drowning death underwater at Alkali Lake, Jean Grey cried out for help to save the lives of her fellow X-Men. The Blackbird was in trouble and her powers felt like they were weakening. She was still weak from that fight she had with Scott below ground. The Phoenix Force heard her cry. She had made contact with the sum and substance of life inside her, her true gift. It sensed her intense passion for life and love for Scott, and her friends. It responded and offered to save her by joining with her, bonding her humanity with its awesome power. Jean had no idea that she’d just become an Omega Level Mutant. When she was at her highest potential from now on, she would be transformed into the Phoenix Force.
Jean gave the infamous words to Charles that he shared with everyone on the Blackbird and then she accepted the offer. She told Charles not to worry and that she would see him again someday, which he didn’t share with them. The others assumed that she’d died… Immediately, she found her consciousness residing in a clone of her body. The original Jean infused the copy with her essence which caused the Phoenix Force to believe that it truly was the original Jean Grey. However, the new Jean began to call itself Phoenix. She scooped up the former dying body of Jean and placed her in a healing cocoon, her body still held within it a spark of the original Jean’s soul. Phoenix then telekinetically tossed the cocoon where no one would find it for some time. It landed in Jamaica Bay, sank deep into the sand at the bottom of the Bay. The reproduced Jean, now Phoenix, proceeded to tear original Jean’s life apart. Her new identity and her immense abilities inevitably resulted in the Phoenix becoming overtaken and spoiled by her god-like gifts.
Ultimately, she became a force of total destruction and called herself Dark Phoenix. Then she killed Scott and Xavier before she joined Magneto to destroy Alcatraz Island. Even Dark Phoenix, all the while still believed itself to actually be Jean Grey up until its death at the hands of the Wolverine. After the death of the Dark Phoenix, the Phoenix Force dispersed into its original shape and a fragment located the still-regenerating original Jean at the bottom of Jamaica Bay. In trying to reconnect with Phoenix Force, Jean sensed its memories of death and destruction as Dark Phoenix and rejected it. So, Phoenix Force bonded it to another clone of Jean, this time created by a villain known as Mister Sinister. Her name was Madelyne Pryor… But the real Jean made the Phoenix Force destroy her with telekinetic powers, just as Charles Xavier had been.
More recently, Tony Stark and the Avengers were on a mission with the Fantastic Four… They managed to recover the cocoon. Thor used his hammer and when they opened it, they found the original Jean’s body breathing on her own. All her injuries were healed but two major ones. She lost access to her telepathy and she had no memory of involvement in the events that happened after she’d met the Phoenix Force. She couldn’t even recollect any of the actions of the Phoenix or Dark Phoenix. Somehow, the Phoenix Force had erased that box in her brain. The Fantastic Four went home and the Avengers, mainly Mr. Stark, told her of what happened and how she was believed dead by the world, until they’d found her. Jean was devastated to learn what the Dark Phoenix and Magneto had done.
Now, after Jean’s supposed death at Alkali Lake, Scott had been out for a ride and was overtaken by a mutant villain called Apocalypse. He possessed Cyclops and caused him to spiral downhill emotionally until his apparent death at the hands of Dark Phoenix. Jean was very distraught when she learned that her chosen fiancé was dead. Tony Stark cheekily told her yeah, he might be somewhere in the hereafter, but Apocalypse had his body. He’d cloned it before the real Scott’s body was destroyed. She began to suspect that Scott was still alive somewhere. So, instead of going back to the X-Men right away to let them know she was alive, Jean went on the hunt for the villain. After all, if she could bring them both back to the mansion, it was better than having just one. He used the grieving body of Scott as a host until she was able to remove Apocalypse’s essence. She brought Scott back to his reproduced body using Phoenix Force.
Now reunited, Scott and Jean agree that it wouldn’t be wise to go back home to the X-Men just yet… Mainly because neither wanted Logan to resume repeatedly seducing her again. Neither knew that Marie and Logan were getting married. Tony Stark kept that little secret to himself, just to see the shit in the pot get stirred more. Scott had no memory of his spirit telling Logan to accept Marie’s proposal at Disneyland either, he barely remembered Jean when she separated the villain from her lover’s body. Apocalypse had erased several boxes in Scott’s mind. Both were extremely excited to learn from Mr. Stark, that Charles had gained a new body and was back at the helm of the school. They had hope that the new Charles could help reach into his mind to recover what was lost.
So, once Tony released them, Jean and Scott ran off to Las Vegas and got married. A little over a half a year later, Jean gave birth to triplets, Nathan Christopher Charles Summers, who would later become the super-hero mutant, Cable. Then, Rachel and Hope Summers were born, identical twins. Scott settled them in Colorado… Up in the mountains where his mutation would be less dangerous to humans, however, he didn’t have to worry much about that any more. Jean used the Phoenix Force to help Cyclops hang up his red shades when they weren’t needed. All he had to do was flip a mental switch and have his red shades handy… Being up in the mountains without a soul nearby but family, helped Jean and Scott enhance their communications, relations, intimacy, and marriage by leaps and bounds.
Marie's Room
Instructor’s Wing
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
11:30 P.M.
Marie tried to sleep but the pain she felt seemed to make her bones ache. Her inner Logan kept telling her he was sorry for her loss. Magneto seemed insensitive by saying that they deserved what they got as humans, but then the Wolverine threatened to beat him up and then he reluctantly apologized when he realized he had no power to fight back. She sat up in bed and moved toward the edge. It even hurt to sit up. Her head was pounding… Hank had given her something to help her sleep with the promise not to take it with any form of alcoholic beverage. Of course, the Rogue in Marie made her cross her fingers behind her back. Nothing was going to stop her if she wanted that release the deadly combination of the two could bring, which the depression was taking control. So, she got up and went to the bathroom for some of those pain killers… She took two since just one wouldn’t have knocked her out. Marie stared in the mirror as she heard movement behind her.
“You okay, darlin?” He asked, concerned.
“Yeah, ah am now.”
“I’m gonna go do my rounds, wanna come with?”
“Nah, ah’m gonna go back to bed and get rid of this headache.”
“Tell you what, hold that thought, and I’ll come back to help send that headache on its way.”
“Don’t rush. Ah’m sure ah’ll be sleepin’ when you come back. Be thorough. Never know when a mad scientist might wanna D-N-A sample.”
“’Kay. I love you,” Logan touched his lips gently to her forehead.
“Love you too.”
Marie’s Room
Instructor’s Wing
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
11:50 P.M.
Impatience won out when Marie felt that enough time had passed for Logan to be on his nightly security rounds around the mansion. She used her key to Logan’s room and raided his liquor stash in the upper shelf in his closet. Logan had stashed it there so the younger students couldn’t reach it. She went back to her room and locked the door. A flop down on the bed before the cap was off and she was drowning her pain with fire burning down her throat. She leaned back against the padded headboard as the effect was almost immediate. She began to feel relaxed and sleepy; her pain became nothing but a memory.
Marie’s Room
Instructor’s Wing
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
12:30 A.M.
It usually took Logan about two hours to check the grounds, but this night, it was interrupted. He had been heading to check on that kid that was a mutant remote control when his hearing picked up a crash of something…
‘Logan, you must get to Marie’s room. She’s in trouble. I have contacted Hank to meet you there.’ He suddenly got from Chuck on the brain phone.
Suddenly everything seemed to be moving in slow motion in his mind but his body moved like lightening as he thundered up the staircase to get to her room. He found her door locked and a few seconds later a claw helped him enter the room. Logan saw her with her head slumped down and to the right; her arm pointed to the floor with her palm open. He didn’t immediately understand why Marie was in trouble until he saw the shattered bottle of his favorite old Kentucky bourbon on the floor by her nightstand. Logan didn’t yell; instantly he was by her side and he began to try to wake her. Nothing was working and panic began to set in as he checked her pulse and found it very weak. He worried that it wouldn’t work, but he had to try as he took her hand and tried to make her turn on her skin. Then Hank came in behind him with his medical bag and he gave her a shot of adrenaline right away to get her heart to pump faster as Logan held on.
Just as Hank was about to give Marie some black and nasty looking stuff he called charcoal, Logan felt the sting of pain begin and he felt her skin working. He understood that the black stuff in the syringe was to help Marie induce evacuation of the alcohol and possibly the pain killers as well, but he knew it wasn’t necessary now that he was healing his girl.
Marie had gone to her peaceful and happy place in her mind. She was sitting comfortably in the green grass under a pine tree. Out of the blue, she saw Logan appear before her to say he was sorry. Then he disappeared and her peaceful, happy place vanished as visions of Logan’s recent memories began to flood her subconscious mind. She watched how he felt when he found her on the ground in the rec room and then how he felt when he found out her parents were dead. How he left and what he went through as he took care of business in the south. As she was getting a window into Logan’s mind, she also saw the reasons why he’d been pulling away from her. She felt his guilt, his pain as she asked him to call her mother and invite her north to see the dress she’d bought. Before Marie saw that Charles had Victor downstairs, she suddenly woke up as she realized what was happening. Her eyes opened long enough to see Logan passed out across her legs.
Hank moved quickly and took care of Logan by moving him so she could retrieve her legs. He picked Logan up and hefted him over one of his broad shoulders. Then he grabbed his medical bag and headed out the door. He took him down to the infirmary. He had a feeling Logan would panic when he woke up, considering what he saw Marie looked like before he touched her. ‘Will things ever be beautiful for this couple?’ Hank thought as he went to the elevator. Things had taken such a down turn since they found out Marie’s cat had been killed by the man they kept sedated downstairs in the secured lock up. He made sure the two men were kept separate. He and Charles changed the codes to enter the secured lock up area daily. True, he could use a claw and get in, but they hoped to be able to stop Logan before then.
Charles walked into the room and sat down on the side of the bed, a few inches from her feet. He didn’t dare to touch her because he knew her skin was active after having taken a hit from Logan.
“Marie…,” Charles sighed as he saw her tear streaked face.
“Ah just want the pain to go away…” she sobbed.
“I know it hurts but it is important that you experience the pain fully and not hide from it. You must not escape it by mixing alcohol with drugs, like you tried to tonight. That’s not the answer…”
“Then what is the answer? Ah hurt everywhere… Ah even hurt down to mah hair follicles. Ah should have reconciled with mah mama sooner. Ah wish she could have met Logan sooner. Ah wish she could’ve come to the wedding… Ah know mah daddy was an ass, but he didn’t deserve what happened.”
“I don’t know Marie. It’s different for everyone. I know this time in your life feels chaotic and scary during this phase you’re going through… But you have to understand it will get better. Don’t make any rash decisions now.”
“You mean lahk the ones Logan made when he left to play Rambo? Yeah, ah know, ah saw.”
“That was Logan’s way of dealing with the death of your parents.”
“He lied to meh, Professor, he lied to meh.”
“I don’t think he had bad intentions Marie. We’ve all been worried about you; even more so now that you’ve mixed two dangerous elements.”
“How is he?”
Charles checked with Hank downstairs in the infirmary via the mental phone.
“He’ll be fine. He’s resting. Hank said he’ll be released in a day or so.”
“Good, because ah’m gonna throw the book at him for makin’ meh go down south to see mah parents. Ah said no, ah was fahn without goin’ back home, but he went behind mah back and contacted them,” Marie was angry…
“That would not be productive, Marie. I know you’re hurting. Take some time and rest. Come, come, and lay down. I’ll tuck you in.”
Marie resisted at first and then she acquiesced to his request. She lay back and rolled to her right side. Charles picked up the covers and tucked her in as he said he would. Then he sat back down next to her.
“Now, I want you to rest. A little advice… Don’t lash out at Logan. There was no way he could have known that your parents would be murdered in such a heinous way. I couldn’t keep him from going to your hometown to deal with the persons responsible for the crime. He would have gone whether I said go or stay. Obviously, I could not officially tell him to go with my blessing.”
“Why?” She sleepily asked him and Charles understood what she was asking. “You think maybe it was because ah slept with Logan before ah got married? Maybe God’s punishing meh?”
“I don’t know Marie, but I do know that your parents loved you. You will come out of this time stronger. Please come and see me if you start feeling the need to self-medicate, I have a good ear and shoulder available. Now, I must find a broom and clean this mess of glass and Logan’s good bourbon before I leave.”
“Just leave it. Ah’ll clean it up in the morning as mah penance.”
“As you wish Marie.”
Charles moved to the door in his slipper covered feet.
“Good night, Marie.”
“Good night, Professor. Ah feel better already ah think.”
“Sweet dreams.”
Xavier seemed to be pleased that he witnessed that Marie was entering a new stage of the grieving process… However, the new one that she was entering wasn’t a good one. She had no clue that she had entered the anger and bargaining stage. Her frustration with Logan’s lying had given way to anger. Charles hoped to warn Logan before Marie got to him. The Wolverine needed to be prepared for the lashing and unwarranted blame for the death of her parents, Logan as well. He hoped that she would seek him out for counseling if she needed it. The second biggest concern he had was Marie causing permanent damage to her relationship with Logan. If they couldn’t weather this storm, how would they handle crisis as a married couple? The biggest concern was Marie’s attempt at self-medicating. Xavier knew that she was in a lot of pain, but he had no idea that she’d sunk so low as to attempt suicide to get rid of the pain. He was glad that Logan was able to get through to her or guaranteed; she would have killed herself. He hated to think that they would be attending a funeral instead of a wedding.
If it was to be believed that she had gone up a stage, soon Charles expected her to start bargaining with the powers that be for a way out of her misery. Somehow, he had a feeling she might ask him to use his gift to go into her mind and erase the pain. He knew he couldn’t for her sake, but the pain of having to refuse her… And what to do about Logan? If she attacked him, would he fight back and say something he didn’t mean or would he stand there and take it? Because he felt Marie’s pain and the guilt of lying to her, it would be easy to stand there and take it. And if they broke up over this? Several parties would be upset. He knew Logan might leave the school indefinitely… However, his family was here. Would he stay to protect them or would he depart and leave them in my care? He thought as he headed back to bed.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Author's Chapter Notes:
Logan and Chuck to the rescue...
Sorry for the wait! Logan Muse went on a vacation and didn't tell me when he'd be back.
Much thanks to my beta tamisnead!!! Ps. There's a little surprise visit by Jean and Scott.
Sorry for the wait! Logan Muse went on a vacation and didn't tell me when he'd be back.
Much thanks to my beta tamisnead!!! Ps. There's a little surprise visit by Jean and Scott.
Chapter End Notes:
Whoo... I hope you liked it! Please let me know if it was worth the wait! Thanks!