Marie

“Marie?”

“Rogue? Come Meine Liebste . You must wake now.”

I kept my eyes shut, playing possum. Of course, playing possum with two of the most powerful and observant mutants in existence was probably a textbook definition of ‘waste of time,’ but I wasn’t moving until I had identified a little more of what the fuck was going on. Logan had taught me better than that: any advantage I had I best be using.

I felt strangely blank. If static had a feeling associated with it, that is the closest I could come. I was... sanitized. There was no feeling associated with my thoughts or impressions.

I heard a sigh and felt my muscles tense. Someone’s hand brushed against my cheek and the shock of it caused my eyes to fly open. It didn’t feel right. It felt like a whisper, or a cobweb, insubstantial and ineffectual, instead of being touched by a human... or hell. For that matter, like being touched by a mutant. There was no heat or coldness to the feel of them touching me. Just the whisper of almost electrified sensation that was... off.

My eyes flew open and I sat up, scrambling back and away from the touch. Erik kneeled next to me, frowning at my reaction. Charles sat near him. I was a bit shocked (okay, not that shocked really) to see that they were holding hands. No. Not holding hands, but... Charles appeared to grasp Erik’s wrist. Charles’ hair was lank, and his entire face was scrunched up in concentration. He might have said my name to wake me, but now he fairly ignored the two of us.

“Forgive me, but I do not have time for gentleness.” Erik’s words reached me only seconds before his hand grasped my own.

The jolt of it caused me to gasp. It felt like touching Storm’s bare skin after she’d called lightening, tingling and buzzing under my fingertips.

“Erik.”

I didn’t know what Charles was warning for, but the effect of him saying Erik’s name caused Erik to yank me into his lap so quickly that I bit my tongue. Well, if I had a tongue to bite. I wasn't entirely sure that I did.

I could feel the entirely alarming sensation of melting , like two paints swirling together, and Erik, Charles and I were gone from where we were, and very suddenly deposited somewhere else .

Charles’ frown grew more pronounced, and I sensed a whirlwind of activity, although there were no physical ramifications of its presence. Time wasn’t working right. I couldn’t tell how long the whirlwind lasted- a minute or a day meant just the same.

It was pretty trippy.

I felt the Erik’s breath against my ear. “You must listen. You cannot, for any reason, let go of either of us. We absolutely cannot speak mind-to-mind, unless you wish her to know of our presence. I... I do not claim to know how Charles has managed this, but he must stay awake. It is our task to see that he remains so.”

Erik frowned, looking over at Charles. His worry was almost palpable, and it wasn’t a good look on him. Erik Lehnsherr didn’t do ‘worried’. If the other weird shit wasn’t enough to make me pay attention, that would have done it.

“What--” I looked around. We looked to be in a sitting room of some sort, but the look of it kept changing, wavering between shades of the upholstery and color on the walls. It hurt my eyes to stare at any one thing too long. I did notice that Logan wasn’t anywhere around. My forehead furrowed in a frown. “Erik--”

“What do you remember, Marie?” Charles’ voice sounded exhausted.

That brought me up short. I don’t think I’d ever heard Charles sound quite like that. My encroaching panic at Logan’s absence was easier to put aside as Charles forced me to remember .

I remembered Logan’s reaction to finding out that Stryker was alive, and coming after mutants. I remembered the meeting with the other X-Men, and I remembered that man pulling me through the mansion. I’d been unable to do anything.

I jumped in place, and Erik’s grip tightened slightly. It was grounding, and I focused on him, as he meant for me to do.

“The Shadowbeast attacked.”

I sucked in a shock breath.

“Charles was able to isolate your mind from its power, but then you were given something. A drug. It is interfering with the remnants of the cure in your body, and it caused...” Erik sighed. He waved his other hand around, indicating the room.

“We are not... oh Scheisse .”

“Just tell her, my friend.”

Erik’s lips tightened, and that niggling, nervous feeling started to make my tummy feel as though it was jumpin’ around like a bunch of toddlers after drinking a Coke.

“We are not in your mind. Charles fought, and was able to lock it down so that it would not take over neither your body nor your consciousness.”

Erik looked impossibly frustrated, and cold enough that for the first time in a long time I remembered the Statue of Liberty, and what had happened there, and how...

“You are safe, but only just. Your body is not harmed... there is just no one ‘home.’

I cocked my head, staring from Erik to Charles, and back to Erik, not entirely sure why they were worried. I mean- yeah okay, not being in my mind sounded pretty much terrifying, but lounging around in Erik’s or Charles’ mind wasn’t all that bad. Lord knew they’d been in mind enough.

Charles blinked open eyes that looked like they weighed several pounds each. He shook his head at me, once, and I realized that he was still linked closely enough with my mind that he had to be ‘hearing’ what I was thinking.

Charles nodded, once.

Oh crap.

“Where... are we?”

Erik snorted, staring at something over Charles’ head.

“I watched him die.”

The non-sequitur made my brow wrinkle, but it’s effect on Charles was like he’d been electrocuted. His blue gaze snapped to Erik’s like a rubber band that had been stretched too tight then released.

“She was too powerful. She has always been more powerful than either of us, even with your caution.” He laughed, a crumpled, twisted sound that for some reason made my throat tight. “You were obliterated in front of me, and I was banished to the mind of a child I had once attempted to kill, unable to help or stop it while my physical body wanders around, lost and Cured. Is not watching that punishment enough?

Erik swallowed, and I began to get a really uncomfortable feeling.

Neither of us answered him.

With my Gift, I hadn’t really questioned too much how people had come to live in my head. The Professor had told me that they were shades- mere shadows of the people they resembled in reality. Yet... I knew that was not quite true. Charles was no shade. Erik might have been at one point, but he certainly was no longer. Logan--- possibly. He came alive whenever there was a need to help or protect me, but he’d always done that. I couldn’t say for certain if there was more or less “him” in my head than normal. Carol and the boy I had kissed so long ago had faded over time.

But this? I looked at Erik almost vibrating with his need to use his own Gift- to lash out. He was absolutely furious, but just as equally determined to let go of neither Charles nor myself. It was obvious that he was ready to erupt into some kind of action, and was holding onto a thread of calm with his teeth and toenails. His lips had flattened, and I could see him trembling slightly, although the whiteness of his knuckles shouted his resolve not to let go of the two of us.

With my other hand, I reached down and pried Erik’s fingers off of my wrist, then linked Erik’s fingers with mine. He looked away from Charles, and down out our joined fingers, stunned. I saw Charles do the same with Erik’s right hand, and the shudder that went through Erik’s frame was almost heartbreaking to see. I sort of doubted that many people had touched this man in kindness. I mean, I knew his background. Everyone did. Warm and fuzzy feelings were not often synonymous with Erik’s makeup.

My touch was that of a friend, seeking to comfort another friend. Charles’... well. That wasn’t my business. They were friends, had been friends for longer than even my parents had been around, but they’d always been more than that. The broken look on Erik’s face turned to stunned surprise when Charles leaned over to brush his lips against Erik’s, tightening his grip on Erik. The kiss was chaste, but the way they rested their foreheads together screamed at a level of intimacy that I don’t know if I was comfortable enough with watching.

I knew that I was blushing a little as I looked down at the weirdly moving floor. The three of us had been mind-linked for Pete’s sake! They knew when I had my period, when I had sex, when my ass itched, when I was horny or grouchy or every other emotion I could name. This was fairly tame, but at the same time not. I desperately wanted to give them what privacy I could.

“I am here. I am here now, with you, old friend. I wish that I could change the past... but that is not one of my Gifts.”

Charles’ voice turned wry at the end, and I could picture him smirking.

“Now. We must deal with the current emergency. Time is- as ever- of the essence.”

“Sugah, I sort of get the feelin’ that whatever you two aren’t tellin’ me is gonna be something I’m really not gonna like.”

The two mutants turned to me with identical sheepish looks on their faces. I had to bite the inside of my mouth not to laugh. It was pretty obvious that they’d been in their own little world. If Erik hadn’t cautioned me about talking mind-to-mind, I would have wondered what Charles had said to him.

“Jean Grey.”

I gagged a little, shocked out of my somewhat cutsie thoughts. “What?!”

“We are in the mind of Jean Grey.”

“You mean the Jean Grey that is dead?”

Charles sighed. “Not... exactly.”

I’m pretty sure my look was textbook for insubordinate, but it was the closest I could come to ‘what the actual fucking fuck ’ without shrieking it into Charles’ mind.

Suddenly, Erik’s reaction made a lot more sense.

“Professor...” I knew I was whining, but everything was starting to make a weird sort of sense.

“I know. I do know, Marie. I cannot apologize for my actions. I will not . I called her here to save us, to help fight the Shadowbeast- the remnants of the Dark Phoenix. I set that in motion when you first fled the mansion.”

“Without telling me.” Erik’s sounded extremely unpleased.

Charles looked over at his friend, both eyebrows raised. Erik didn’t even have the grace to look sheepish at his hypocrisy.

“Indeed. Do not confuse my desire for--” Charles broke off and his lips straightened into a thin line. “I will not allow this to happen again, Erik.” His look settled on me, and I got the feeling that he was attempting to ask for some kind of understanding, even though his words belied that need.This was very much the strength and arrogance of a mutant who had a Gift that few could understand, and the will and means to make anything he wanted happen.

“This is not ‘our’ Jean Grey.” He flung out his other hand, indicating the room they sat in. “I shan’t begin a lesson on dimension travel, because we really do lack the time, but my memories of Jean’s mind is very insular. As Erik mentioned, I built many of the controls of the Dark Phoenix from the time Jean was a very small girl. Yet, what I... for lack of a better term... ‘remember’ is just slightly off from what this version of Jean remembers from her world’s sitting room.

I blinked and looked around again, recognizing where we were for the first time. It was the sitting room in Xavier’s mansion, usually used for meet and greets for prospective students and nervous parents. It wasn’t a room I’d been in very often, but to my gaze it still looked like staring at a 3D movie without the glasses. But... yeah. That made a strange sort of sense, if I ignored the fact that Charles was casually talking about dimension travel like normal humans talked about going down to the store for a loaf of bread.

I pinched the spot between my eyes, at the top of my nose. I had the horrible feeling that I was about to test the theory on whether or not you could get a stress headache without an actual body.

“So then we--”

There was a knock on the door, and Charles’ shoulders straightened. He switched his grip back to grasping Erik’s forearm, and the two of us echoed the small movement, fumbling in our haste. Erik turned towards the door with eyes narrowed. The three of might not agree on whatever the hell crisis was happening right now, but we were a team united against the threat of whatever was about to come through that door.

Charles swallowed so hard that his throat clicked.

“Enter.”

The door swung open, and the woman that walked through caused my heart to lodge itself in my throat. She was taller than I remembered Jean being, but I had always been a little in awe of her and way too jealous of her and Logan’s flirting to really ever get to know her very well. She was dressed very differently than the Jean I knew would ever had dressed. It was a version of her X-suit, but somehow the cut and design of it made her look... dangerous. Her eyes were... wrong. I’d only seen her eyes like this once, and I couldn’t help the spurt of fear that ran through my body like a current.

“Well, now. You three look like you’re about to meet with the devil.” Her grin was mischievous.

I blinked, not expecting the almost amused tone to her voice.

She strode in and sat down behind what I now recognized as Charles’ desk, swinging her booted feet up onto its surface.

Charles stood, walking towards her with the two of us following like links in a particularly disgruntled human chain. Jean’s gaze focused on our linked hands, and she frowned, as though confused by the sight. “Lookit- I get why you need her here. But I don’t know if I get....him.” She pointed to Erik who did a pretty good impression of bristling up like a really pissed off cat.

“Hello, Jean.”

She grinned. “Man, it’s good to hear your voice. My Charles has been gone for several years.” She caught the look on Erik’s face. “Oh calm down, handsome. I didn’t kill him. I take it this world’s version of me...” she looked at all three of our faces. “Yeah.” She frowned. “Well that’s gonna make things awkward.”

“Thank you for your assistance, nonetheless.”

“Well, I haven’t done anything yet. You’ll need to fill me in on the particulars. Stephen wouldn’t tell me what was going on, but that’s not new for him. You know Stephen, when he’s all--” she waggled her fingers “--Sorcerer Supreme-y...oh. You don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.” She mimed zipping her lips. “You go ahead and catch me up, Professor.”

“Ah. Yes. Well...” Charles seemed as weirded out by the changes in Jean as I was. “In this... dimension... the Dark Phoenix did quite of bit of damage when it manifested. We thought it was destroyed, but there were small remnants left in the mind of Rogue, here. Possibly in others. I am not certain. Those remnants we’ve taken to calling the Shadowbeast.”

Jean’s face didn’t change.

“We have, I assume, a common enemy. Stryker has been involved in administering a Cure to mutants, one that blocks their Gifts, so that they are human-normal.”

For the first time, Jean frowned, but she remained quiet.

“The Shadowbeast has attacked Marie’s mind several times. Her control is weak, and it has worn down her natural defenses to an almost...” he blew out a breath of frustration. “I have managed to temporarily neutralize its presence, but only by ‘jumping ship,’ as it were. Our fear is that this is the parts of the Dark Phoenix that our Jean could not control. And... with many of the mutants effectively sterilized against their mutations...”

Jean nodded. “So you want me to... what. Clean house?”

“Essentially, yes.”

Erik’s low growl of “How do you know she can be trusted?” pretty much took my words out of my mouth. It seemed too easy that Charles was ready to embrace her and her help with open arms. Not after everything we’d been through. Jean swung her legs down and sat up straight. She leaned forward earnestly, as though she couldn’t fathom why someone wouldn’t trust her. Like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

Maybe it was just that arrogance. Maybe Charles really did know something that Erik and I didn’t. Maybe we were all just screwed and hadn’t realized it yet. Still, I kind of wish that I had thought to stop it, instead of watching it happen.

She slowly reached out across the desk, smirking at Erik.

“That’s the thing. You... don’t.”

Her hand reached down onto Charles’ shoulder, and the shock of it sent all of us jumbling together, like the whirlwind from before had ramped up a notch. I didn’t know how else to describe it. The four of us sat there, still linked while watching a tornado from the inside.

But when the dust settled, I couldn’t help it. It was childish to close my eyes so tightly, like a kid who hoped that the monsters weren’t really there. I knew better. The monsters were just as real as anything else, lately.

Like before, I took stock of my surroundings before opening my eyes. If playing possum was an Olympic Event, you bet your ass I’d be bringin’ home a damn medal.

I knew that I was alone.

In my own mind, the Professor had taught me to give each of the ‘personalities’ their own space, so they didn’t overwhelm my .. me -nes. I had done what I could, working closely with him to eke out little spaces for Erik, Carol, Logan... so no one would trip over no one else.

Jean had done the same. We might have been linked before, but now were were separated, locked behind whatever prison doors she used to keep her mind orderly. With her touch, she had outdone whatever Charles had fought so hard to set up. To my left, I could hear the sound of something throwing itself against the door over and over, like an animal caught in a cage. Erik’s English had completely deserted him, and my German wasn’t up to muster. I recognized the tone, and a few of the filthier words, and I knew that prison doors or not, Jean was lucky there wasn’t any metal around.

When I finally had the courage to open my eyes, I could only stare.

I didn’t know where Charles was. The two of them had been so adamant about how dangerous it was to not let go... and now I was here, and Erik was there... and Charles was... god knew where.

“I just want to mention that you guys called me in.”

Jean’s voice seemed to echo through everything. I could feel her voice in my fillings, almost like it was echoing through my bones.

“So if you don’t like what you see... don’t shoot the messenger.”

The door to my room turned opaque, then fizzed, like a television lost to static. I blinked, trying to let my eyes adjust to the sudden brightness. When they did, I almost wished they hadn’t.

It was like watching a TV- but I knew that this was no prime time.

Jean stared into a mirror. I could see everything that she saw as though through her eyes, and it was pretty clear that this is what Charles’ stunt had reduced us to. That probably wasn’t his intention, and I know he’d be furious with himself to see what had resulted from his desperate plan to keep the three of us from fading away when the Shadowbeast took over my mind.

Still there was probably only one thing to say.

“Aw, shit .”

Jean smirked.


Logan



“Wolvie?”

I blinked, catching my reflex- which would have been... unpleasant- just in time. Jubilee stood there, and I could tell she had been callin’ my name for awhile. I turned to stare at her, and whatever look was on my face made her already wet eyes tear up again. She sniffed, and stumbled forward blindly.

I wasn’t normally a huggy sort of guy- but Jubilee had not only seen someone bleed out and die, and on top of that, her best friend was whisked away almost under her nose.

She was just a damn kid.

She sniffed again against my shirt, and relaxed into my awkward backpat for just a second before sighing and pulling away, obviously trying to seem stronger than she probably was.

“You got your phone? You better call this in.” With Destiny’s eyes shut, there was probably nothing that would give her away as a mutant, but the cops had to do their thing. As much as most of ‘em wished we didn’t, we still lived in the human world, and by human rules.

Although- with all the marches on Washington Storm was talking about, maybe the more vocal ones wouldn’t wish we weren’t here anymore.

“You should leave me here with the car to call it in, Logan. You need to get back to tell them what happened, and you can do that quicker than if I just handle the cops.”

“I can’t just--”

“You can and you will . You think I’m gonna be the one to find her?” She snorted and made shooing motions with her hands. “Come on already. Like, Go !”

Well, that made me feel less like an asshole for leaving her here. It was a busy road, even way the hell out here. And lord knew she could take care of herself. One wrong move and that unsuspecting asshole would end up with a plasma blast somewhere real unpleasant.

“Okay, kid.”

Before I could say anything else Jubes turned her back on me and made the call to 911. Dismissed, I turned back towards the Mansion and ran.

I didn’t get to run like this very often. Sometimes I’d push myself to get to this speed, but usually I kept it somewhat less panic-stricken and more controlled.

Fucking Stryker. My memories from before were spotty- and the Professor had pretty much said that I’d never get them back. Jean had made some noises about helping me, but I had been... less than eager to have her go rooting around in my mind. She’d been in there once and it was weird enough that. Well. Some shit was just creepy. When the Professor barged into your mind, you didn’t know he was there unless he damn well wanted you to know. He could root around, change your whole personality, shuffle through your memories like a stack of poker cards, and you’d never have an inkling. Jean though- for as powerful as she was- her hold tended to stick around. Like the sticky residue you got when candy melted, or the slight bit of oil on your fingers after you ate some movie theater popcorn, it wasn’t really unpleasant per se- just... you knew it was there.

Still- as much as sometimes I wanted those memories, I didn’t know that I needed them. Wheels had told me over and over that they would serve no purpose, and their weight would damage me all over again.

Until now. Now, I would take any pain, any memory, any spirit or shade from my past that would get Marie back safely.

When I willingly thought of Stryker- and believe you me, bub, it wasn’t that fuckin’ often, I remembered his sneering face, or his hand on my shoulder as pain ricocheted through me. Sometimes I had the impression of snow, and water, and....

...but then it would be gone, and I’d be lost. Even if I did know where to go, there was no promise that Marie was actually at the base I remembered. Stryker could have moved it, or had it destroyed. Hell, it could be a Starbucks for all I knew.

I crouched a little lower and ran just that tiniest bit faster. My muscles burned, starved for oxygen. I took the pain, accepted it as my due. Small potatoes to what I deserved for letting them take her.

Problem with living for a fuckin’ age was that I knew I’d never forgive myself for this. Almost literally, never. Not until Marie was dust in the ground, and even then.

I stumbled, caught myself before I could fall. Forced myself to slow down enough that I could suck in some air. Strictly speaking, I could go for a while without oxygen, but it gave me a bitch of a headache.

The hedges of the Mansion were easy enough to jump, and I loped up to the doors and barrelled through with hardly a hello to anyone. I did see the kid who Gregor had kicked, showing off a split lip to a gaggle of mutants kids, all cooing over him.

When I walked by, the kid jumped off the table and fairly ran for me.

“Mither. Wolverine? Thir?”

I swear to god, if this kid was any more pitifully cute, he’d be a cast extra on the next Lifetime Christmas Special. His lisp was more from the swollen lip than a speech impairment, but he was missing baby teeth and had a helluva shiner starting.

Still, he’d done more for Marie than I had managed.

I crouched down to his level, and the kid’s eyes widened. “Hey. I saw what you did there. What’s your name, kid?”

“Thamuel.”

“Well, Samuel, that’s one helluva gift you’ve got. You get a little older, I think that sort of bravery is exactly what we need.”

Of course, that was assuming that the Xmen didn’t implode without the Professor’s leadership, which was pretty much where “we” were now.

Samuel started to grin, visibly remembered that he had a split lip, and winced. “Do you think she’s gonna be okay?”

The kid’s eyes filled up with tears and I nodded, ruffling his hair. I didn’t blame the kid for cringing away. I remembered lots of nights of Marie sitting up with some of the kids, reading them stories and making s’mores and shit and I knew I was a piss poor substitute for comfort.

“She’s gotta be.”

The kid nodded, then went back to his admirers- all of them looked even more awed that the Wolverine didn’t eat him- and I made my way downstairs. Down the elevator, to the sub level, I was caught like I always was by how oddly cold, and wickedly sterile everything seemed. Almost futuristic, like dipping down into Chuck’s subconscious. I could hear raised voices as I turned a corner, and started walking quietly, so I could listen before they noticed me.

“This is unworthy of us. Rogue would not stop if one of us--”

“You can’t keep someone like that in the Xmen!”

“The Professor would--”

“Look, I get it, but she’s fuckin’ danger-

“You can’t! We don’t have the manpower to split now, damnit!”

SILENCE !” The Beast’s roar caused all of them to freeze into place. The Beast huffed out a frustrated breath and pulled his cuffs down with two sharp movements that made the stitches in the seams groan.

“Seems like you got a fuckton of work ahead of ya,” I knew that the smile on my face was neither kind nor welcoming, by the way some of the younger members flinched away. A couple of them wouldn’t look me in my eyes. Beast did, of course, and Storm, but everyone else was afraid.

Fuckin’ lilly-livered cowards, the lot of ‘em.

“Storm?”

I ignored all of them, and directed my attention to her. Fearless as always, she tilted her chin to look me in the eyes. “I told you...”

“Yes. Indeed. ‘if she goes, you go’, I believe you said. As of now, Logan, you are on full leave of absence.”

Storm stared patiently at me, with the Beast givin’ me one helluva hairy eyebrow on my left. It was obvious they were waiting for me to understand whatever secret shit they were trying to tell me, but I wasn’t any good with that telepathic crap.

“You have twenty minutes to leave the premises. As it stands, I really feel the truck would be the best vehicle, given your status.” The Beast stared at me over his glasses. Butter wouldn’ta melted in his mouth.

Storm’s lips twitched. “So, should you... if you will forgive the pun... go rogue , you will not do so as a supported member of the Xmen.”

Oh. Ohh , you clever damn thing, you.

I popped my claws, and roared a little, more to make the younger kids shit themselves than because I was angry. I used that as an exit, furiously making my way upstairs and into my room to pack what shit I could pack, whatever I might need. Beast made it clear he’d left me some goodies in the truck, and Storm had to hit me upside the head with the fact that I was free to go do what I wanted, with no repercussions, and nothing to hold me back.

I can’t say that I blamed them really. There were a lot of very scared kids here. Kids like Marie, who had been neglected and turned so terrified of their mutation that they didn’t have any sense of normalcy. And I had thought it myself not too long ago- what we’d had was broken. It had started when Scott had died, and hit its death throes when the Professor had been obliterated. What was left over were a few people who had to establish safety and routine before they could work on outside interests. Putting up walls, circling the wagons, didn’t matter what the hell you called it. It sucked, and I knew that I could use them to find Marie, but.... they had bigger problems than one girl.

I shoved some shit in my spare pack, then jogged down to the garage. Beast had a crate in the back of the truck, and what looked like a small toolbox, and I just wanted to go. I could look at all that shit later.

*****

By the second day, I was frustrated as fucking hell. My mood, which hadn’t ever been a damn sunshiney day to begin with, was so foul that I knew I’d scared the little old lady at the toll booth, if the police escort I’d gotten to my hotel was any indication.

Nothing.

Not one fucking sign of her. Beast had included a map, marked with site after site of potential Stryker headquarters, but not a goddamn thing was comin’ up roses.

I pounded the steering wheel of the old beat-up truck, and rested my head on the top of the curve. Here in the middle of nowhere in bumfuck, Manitoba, with nothing to show for it but two empty donut boxes from Tim Hortons, and a cup of coffee that had been warm at least thirteen hours ago, if not longer.

Fuck .”

There had to be something I could do. Something that would spark the memory that unlocked all this shit. Something obvious, something----

Wait.

I picked up my head, nostrils flaring as I scented the air.

Every single muscle in my body froze as the scent solidified. Something had to be wrong. A trap? Something , because there was no. fucking. Wa--

“Hiya, Logan.”

Cool as you fuckin please, Jean Grey opened up the passenger-side door and slid into the truck.

I swallowed, her scent so thick on my tongue that it was making me lightheaded. Memories washed over me in a wave, and I could barely keep my head above water. I remembered pushing myself forward, knowing that the force the Dark Phoenix was putting out would kill anything else in its path. As it was, I was barely healing in time. I remembered those eyes, dark with all the stars in the sky behind them. I remember Jean begging for me to save her, and my stupid, useless attempt at comfort- an ‘I love you’ that had been thrown as an an apology, as a prayer before I’d murdered Jean to save us all.

I’d been able to feel her heart beating, thumping against the adamantium, like a current.

I shook my head, and brought my arms up to-- well, no. No I wanted to put my arms up, but I was sitting here glued to the spot, with both hands on the steering wheel like a damn kid in driver’s ed learning how to drive for the first time.

She cocked her head, and I struggled against her hold.

“So- you know scent doesn’t lie. You don’t know how the hell this is happening, and your brain is fluttering around to try to make sense of it.” She reached out with one finger and touched my muttonchop, sliding the digit down over the jut of my jaw and over my lips.

I don’t know what sound I made, but it wasn’t a sound of disgust.

“Shh. Now, you’ve lost something very important to you. And you’re lost now , not knowing where to go. You know me, Logan. You know what a lie tastes like, looks like on my body.” She leaned forward, and I thought she was going to kiss me, but it was only to grip my chin and stare into my eyes, her own bizarre pupiless orbs only inches away. “You don’t trust me, but you know me. Or... a version of me. I take it that this world’s Phoenix didn’t exactly leave on the best note.”

I felt the too-heavy touch of a mind against my own, and panicked, feeling like a lightning bug caught under the lid of a jar. I could see how to get out, but was helpless, throwing my mind against Jean--- no. The Phoenix’s hold on me.

Scents could be faked. Not often, and I had never been fooled before.. But I wasn’t so much of dick to think that there wasn’t something, somewhere , out there that could pull the rug out from under me. But the exact same feeling of that mind on mine? Clinging like webs, sticky like melted taffy, it was a feeling that I would never, could never forget.

I felt her lips on my cheek, the pull of her teeth on my earlobe. I gasped, and stared at her face, lips a bare breath from my own.

“You need to decide. Trust me... trust that you know me, trust that I can help you, or I can walk out of this truck and you’ll never see me again. But I promise you. You will never find her without my help.”

She must have released her hold on me, because I could move again. I did, backing up against the door. I didn’t much care for ceding ground to her, but I needed the space to breathe... both figuratively and literally.

The seconds ticked by as I forced my heart rate to slow down. I stared at her, shocked into silence.

I know, I know. Shut your pie hole before you catch flies.

She’s spoken of a ‘version’ of herself. As explanations went, god knew I’d seen weirder shit. And that did fit- how she could smell like her, her mind feel like her own, but still not look...quite... right.

This Jean was harder around the eyes and mouth, the face more narrow than what I remember. The eyes were right, and so was the hair, but the rest of her looked... off.

If this was a trap, it was such a fuckin’ good one that I wanted to applaud. If I had cracked, then who or what I worked with didn’t matter. If this was legit, then... I’d had the help that I’d needed fall practically into my lap.

“You fuck up and something happens to Marie and this time when I kill you I will make it last.”

Her eyes widened a little, and it struck me then that probably very few people had the balls to threaten a Phoenix who was in control of her powers.

“I promise, Logan. I will help you retrieve Rogue’s body.”

Didn’t much care for the way she phrased it. I Didn’t smell a lie...

... but her words were far from comforting. I knew what I was going to do and could practically hear Chuck spinnin’ his wheels in his grave.

“Fine. Where to?”



TBC

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