The squeaky clean hospital smell of the med lab brought Logan back to consciousness, and yet again, he knew he abhorred the odor as much as he hated warm beer. The lights, thankfully, were dimmed. Nothing was hooked on him –as far as he could tell with eyes closed, that is. The only consolation in this place was Marie's scent. It made him want to go back to sleep, but he wanted to be awake as much as he could because he didn't want to worry her.

When he had regained mental awareness, Logan knew she had been waiting by his side all along. The faint traces of vanilla was everywhere in the room, mixed with something salty, something he could only identify as tears. He hated to know she cried, but as much as he wanted to comfort her, he was only as good as a vegetable for now. He wanted to hear her sing all of a sudden –even humming would do. Instead, he heard her leave the room. Marie paced outside for a couple of minutes, and then reentered the room. Her heart was beating in a steadfast rhythm, but her breathing came in short intakes, giving him the confirmation that she was actually nervous.

Logan wanted to look at her with his eyes, ask her so many things about what happened back at the lab, but judging where he was now, all he could do was be thankful that both of them survived. He smiled to himself with that thought. They were such a good combination–

"Logan, did you know that Sabretooth was your brother?" Marie asked, her soft yet nervous voice permeated his thoughts. He wanted to hold her close, but for now her voice was akin to a thick quilt on a cold winter's day. Say somethin' else, he bid her, somethin' sweet like you usually do. He didn't even bother to comprehend what she just told him, but she continued, "He knew so much about you and your past. His name was Victor Creed."

You think I didn't know you absorbed him? Logan wanted to ask her. I could smell him on you the moment you returned to that filthy motel with One-Eye. But I didn't want to say anything because I'll just sound like a disappointed 'friend'. But he was glad that she was talking, although something about this one-sided conversation was making him a bit perturbed.

"I…" Marie started again, her voice shaking. "I don't know if you can ever forgive me, but I… I killed him, Logan."

Why'd you do that, darlin'? Logan wondered. Why'd you hurt yourself like that?

Marie started to stutter something about working for Mystique. A woman named Danvers. She was never forced. He couldn't fully grasp her words all of a sudden, but it made sense to him in bits and pieces. Touch. Lonely. Love. When he heard her sniffle, Logan felt so useless, being unable to comfort her. However, he didn't expect her to say the following words.

"And you know why I feel so terrible?" she asked his unresponsive body. "I did it because I love you." The smell of her tears doubled. "I love you with all my heart. And I'm such a fuckin' mess because I don't even feel sorry for the things I did. And what happened… I don't want to take it back."

Marie, you don't have to…

"I love you so much, Logan, that it kills me –even though technically it can't. I guess I finally understand you now, not only because I share your memories. It's because I know. There's this indescribable ache in my heart that won't go away. I can heal like you, but I can't make the pain go away, Logan." She paused, wiped her tears. "Maybe it's guilt, hate…" She took a deep breath and exhaled. "I don't know anymore."

Marie, please. Just wait for me. Once I get up–

"I've had you in my head for the longest time, and you know what my Logan told me? He said that you knew. Even then –you knew you were going to love me too."

I do, baby. I do. Logan felt his heart expand in his chest. I love you.

More tears and sobbing. "And I'm glad, so glad. To hear you say that, even just in my head, it's just… It makes me feel like I made the right choice, you know?"

You did it for love, Marie. I can never take that against you. You and me against the world now, darlin'.

Marie sighed. "All I know is that right now… I can't be with you here. I can't wait here, watching you until you figure it out."

Why do you sound like you're leaving? Marie. You don't have to go. Don't go. Let's figure it out together.

"Logan, you still haven't transitioned… Not the way we need you to. Wolverine knows it. Logan in my head knows it. You said you're done fighting, but it's still not enough. You're still resisting. And you know what?" She squeezed his hand. "I understand."

Understand? Understand what, Marie?

"For now, sugar, I'm… I'm setting you free. Maybe somewhere down the line, we'd find each other again. Please don't look for me now, because I can't face you, knowing that you know I've always got forever. That I'm always just waiting." Marie let out a chuckle –a bitter one.

What? You're leaving me? I don't want to be free, Marie. I want you. I need you.

"I know what you're thinking. You want me to change my mind but… no. I have to leave while I can, before I kill you with my love, sugar." Her voice became deeper, serious, further from the crying young woman she had been only a few moments ago. "I cannot not have you, and I will have you."

Logan mentally shuddered in anticipation with her tone. I want you so bad, baby. Stop this nonsense right now. But she can't read minds, can she?

"You have to want my love, Logan. You have to need it, feel it burn through you, consume your entire soul, eat you alive from the inside." He heard her stand up, her breathing in control –as if she never shed a tear. "But you're not ready for this yet." In other words, what she was saying was… You're not ready for forever.

I am, Marie, Logan yelled in protest in his head. Let me show you how much. I love you, damn it. I just can't fuckin' move! Fury flared in him when he heard the door open.

"Goodbye, Logan."

Hearing her say it weakened him more than the Leech, Magneto or even Rogue herself had ever been capable of. A few minutes passed by and Logan still waited for her to return, but all that was there was silence.

Never goodbye, Marie. You never say goodbye.

"You do know he'll be hounding your cute ass once he wakes up, right?"

"I doubt it." Rogue frowned at him. "Chuck told me his mind was awake so I know he understood everything I told him. And believe me, Scott. No one –even Logan, in his right mind, would come after an obsessed woman. He's better off without me." For now, she added, but it was too embarrassing to admit, even if she just ratted out her craziness to Scott. But with that look he gave her, it was clear he understood.

"Whatever, Roguey," Scott snickered. "You know Wolverine doesn't care. I'll bet you Bobby's gay that Logan even likes you doing that 'crazy love you eyes' at him."

"Bobby is not gay," Rogue said with a roll of eyes. "He's just… not the macho type. Besides, isn't he with Kitty?"

"Yeah sure, for now," Scott shrugged. "But long distance relationships never work out, which leads me to the point that Logan would follow you basically anywhere you plan to run off to."

Not when I put a magnetic hold down on him at least until after I've left the mansion. "Seriously, Scotty. Your interest in Dame Tu Amore has made you into a senseless romantic it's really making me sick. Thank goodness I'm leaving, right?"

When she closed the guest room behind her, Scott shook his head as he followed her. "Its useless, isn't it? Now I feel like we're in Room 6 again, you leaving me. Worse, I feel like a kid whose parents are separating."

"Scott, you're really something," Rogue mocked, but before she can turn away, Scott leaned towards her and gave her loud smooch on the lips. Flabbergasted, all she could do was stare at him. They gaped at each other as they stood on the hallway. "Fuck. Why do I feel like I got kissed by my brother?" It was the fee, she supposed, for trusting Scott to explain her whereabouts/reasons for leaving to the entire mansion. "Ugh."

"Whatever, Roguey," Scott said, pulling her towards the mansion entrance. "Just call once you get there, OK?"

This time, Rogue knew that she would.

"MARIE!" Logan bellowed a few hours later, as if waking from a long nightmare. He started wheezing, but after a few deep inhalations, his breathing returned to normal. He felt like he had jetlag and a hangover. He rubbed his eyes and scratched the top of his head. "Aw, fuck." Did he wrestle with Magneto or something?

"Logan?" a deep baritone voice asked from his right. There stood Hank in all his blue fur, his glasses perched on his eyes. He held a folder in his hands, gave it another glance before sitting on a stool in front of him. "How are you faring today?"

"Rogue?" Logan bit out, clearly irritated.

"Why, she is alright." Hank smiled at him, giving him thumbs up. "Scott's assumptions were correct: being with Jimmy shattered whatever control Rogue had over her mutation. Thankfully, they had enough sense to separate the two before she lost further control… Although, of course, that is keeping what happened to you out of the equation. But it seems that her mutation is continuously evolving…"

"But is she ok now?" Logan interrupted him, not quite interested in hearing theories and whatnot. He cricked his neck; that felt good. "Don't answer that. It's coming back to me now."

Goodbye, Logan.

Fuck. Logan was already on his feet.

"Logan, wait!" the furry blue mutant called out as he made his way outside the med lab. "I need to make sure you're a hundred percent OK!"

But Logan just growled at him and used his sense of smell to track down Charles, who, thankfully, was enjoying a tea party out in the gardens all by his lonesome. "Chuck!"

Immediately, Chuck set down his cup of tea and shook his head as he gazed up at the feral. "I apologize, Logan, but she blocked me out the moment she left–"

"No. Marie I will find," Logan muttered confidently. "I need you to find someone else."

Chuck breathed out a sigh of relief and grinned at him. "I might just have to start charging you extra…" When Logan didn't laugh, he frowned. "Who is it then?"

Only one bitch was on his mind right now: "Mystique."

A coupe of hours later, one would think the time out on the road would have given Logan some peace of mind. Instead of a thoughtless drive, he spent the entire trip trying not to get a speeding ticket, kill anyone accidentally along the road, because he was livid. He needed to lash out at something, or rather, someone specifically with yellow orbs and slithery teal skin.

The fact that Marie wouldn't age a day really exasperated him, but Logan knew he was going to chase after her no matter what. Because hell, he was the Wolverine and he loved a good hunt. The only reason he was willing to postpone seeing her at once was that he could not decide what to do with her first: argue, kiss, touch, fuck, spank, talk? He was placated with her monologue while he was 'asleep', though he had a badgering suspicion that she had something to do with his extended stay at the med lab. But there was more anticipation to see her than fight with her, of course.

When Marie told him she was most probably immortalized like he was because of absorbing Sabretooth, Logan was astounded. He had his suspicions, yes, but finally hearing it from her, he knew denial was no longer an option. He couldn't just forget or ignore that truth anymore than he can ignore that they weren't supposed to be just friends. Thinking of Sabretooth though, Logan had always had a feeling that he was related to the feral. Acknowledging him as his brother was fucked up as hell, but it was actually a sigh of relief on his part.

For as long as Logan can remember, his probably immortality had depressed him like fuck. He drank his ass to kingdom come and did everything he could to push and push his limits, but Lady Luck was in love with him for letting him survive all his conquests, despite his healing factor. Although no matter how he saw it, outliving everyone he knew scared the shit out of him. He couldn't really invest in relationships or establish roots, because he had the feeling that in the past he tried and failed miserably. It left him in his own brand of doldrums and it turns out that the one person who could relate was good as a dried prune.

Now though, with Rogue in the picture, it put things in a different perspective. Instead of wallowing in grief for her sake and his, Logan wanted to be there for her –not only because he wished to help her deal and cope, but he was truthfully excited to finally explore that Pandora's Box with Marie. It was enough to make his dick hard just as it was enough to put a smile on his face. He wasn't saying that he was glad the mutation of eternal youth happened to Marie, but he couldn't imagine being stuck with anyone else but her.

Other than that, there was still outrage in his soul.

Logan knew he had to do something, anything before reuniting with Marie. So now, Mystique was his priority, just so he can punish the mutant for causing his mate internal pain and suffering. All because of her stupid, albeit effective plan, Marie had almost lost her mind, which was a big no-no in Logan's dictionary. Though, sure, Marie gained control over her mutation because of what happened, it was an entirely different matter altogether. Fine, maybe there was no sense in killing the woman, but he felt the need to punish her.

Or maybe, Logan just wanted to hear it straight from Mystique's mouth, that Rogue was really going to be with him forever. In a vague sense, he needed answers, answers that can push the fears out of his mind.

To his surprise, Logan found the shapeshifter in a seedy bar without her signature cerulean-hued skin, only nursing a bottle of Jack Daniels. He observed that she drank her whiskey slowly, as if taking her time. The usual self-assured, haughty mutant did not move an inch from her seat when he stepped in her line of sight, giving him the impression that she had been expecting him for quite some time. Initially he thought he would either smother or cuss her to death when he saw her, but only one word came from his lips, "Why?"

"It's poetic justice, don't you think?" Mystique asked slowly, staring at the dark amber liquid in her glass, then at his hazel eyes. "It can't get any more perfect than this. It's mystical but our links to each other are well-orchestrated by the Moirai."

The goddesses of fate. Logan didn't bother to remember why he knew about that, but he was a bit thrown when he found himself marginally captivated by the way Mystique spoke in hushed tones. She wasn't drunk, but she was definitely different, as if this was the first time they've actually met. In a sense, it sort of was, considering he wasn't stabbing her just to see if her blood was blue. They were not adversaries now, and Logan lost all the urge to kill her, especially when she looked so disillusioned with life. He didn't even mind when she started to speak again.

"Fancy this: Victor Creed asked his lover to find a way to end his life and she agreed. Then the lover beseeched the powerful Rogue for help. With his death, Victor gave her his mutation, which somehow paved way for this striking ending: his immortality served as his last gift to his only brother, giving him the eternal lover in the form of Marie, who –pay attention, has been pining for said brother the moment she laid eyes on him in that horrid cage. A cage, mind you, that is so symbolic in ways you can only imagine." Mystique smiled, satisfied with her story. "It's my ultimate mythology; you were the binding thread, the key to its lovely success."

Logan refused to acknowledge the way she narrated what happened like it was a beautiful tale, simply because a big part of him wanted to believe her. He wanted to feel a connection to Victor Creed, owe him thanks or bury his knuckles on his face, bus all he kept thinking about was Marie. Marie was really going to be forever. His forever. He forgot for a moment that he was at the bar with Mystique, of all people. "Where does that leave you?" he asked the sullen woman.

"Alone, but fulfilled," Mystique replied, pouring the glass a drink. She pushed it in his direction. "Drink with me, will you?" She smiled seductively when he took a step closer and took the glass from the table, while she raised the bottle to her own lips. "I can finally die in peace."

Logan knew it was never an easy feat to reach that point for anyone these days. Tipping the glass while looking in her eyes, he said, "Cheers."