When I wake up, there’s no Logan next to me. Jean snores on a chair next to my bed. Scott has vacated a couch little further. What the fuck are they doing in here? I clear my throat and Scott’s head snaps up. It takes a moment from him to realize where he is.
“Hi. What’s going on?”
“Jean wanted to keep an eye on you.”
“And you wanted to keep an eye on her?” I asked jokingly.
“Where’s Logan?”
Shit. There it came. Question we had both feared, trying to find a suitable answer at the evening when we sat wide-awake. Where was Logan? How the hell do I break this to her gently?
Hank and Ororo returned to the lair two hours after I picked her up from there. Whole place was in ruins, going up in flames. There was no sign of Logan anywhere. Professor can’t find a trace of him, not even with Cerebro. We can only assume, that if he is still alive, he will eventually turn up here.
And now entirely too many hours has gone by. I don’t like this. Jean doesn’t like this. And I’m sure as hell that girl sitting on that bed won’t be exactly thrilled about it.
Why is Scott staring at me like that? Why they are both here? Has something happened? Where is Logan? He told me he would be back by morning. He should be here already. Maybe he’s in med lab? Yeah. That has to be it. He got hurt and they didn’t want to worry me, so they took him to the med lab. But why the hell Jean is here if that is the case? Are they taking turns with Hank? Why isn’t Scott talking?
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know. Hank and Ororo went to look for him. Mansion was on fire, but they couldn’t find him.” Her face goes blank. Then determined line appears between her eyes. Small hands turn to white knuckled fists.
“He can’t die. He’s alive somewhere out there. He is alive. I’m going to look for him. He may be hurt or…” She starts to stutter and stops speaking. We both know that there isn’t a reason big enough for Logan to stay away from her. He would be here right now, probably banging her to the mattress if he were in good enough condition to drag his hairy butt home.
“Give it some time. It’s only ten o’clock. Wait for few hours more. Scott will take you to the mansion and help you look if Logan hasn’t come home before that,” Jean says. Marie’s outburst has woken her up. She stretches and yawns.
“It isn’t unusual from him to linger in his little trips. He may just have gotten distracted. Don’t worry about him. He is, after all, quite durable.” Her lazy tone and even lazier attitude seem to calm Marie a bit.
“Are you sure?” She asks, fists loosening a bit. Jean smiles and nods, then stands up.
“Come on, Scott. I need a shower, and I’m sure Marie could use some privacy, too. I brought you some scented candles, and there’s a big bottle of vanilla scented bath gel waiting. I’m sure that warm bath will do wonders for you,” She says to Marie and me.
She manages to keep up the façade long enough, but when I close the door to our room, she collapses. It’s a controlled collapse, but nevertheless I haven’t seen her as worried ever.
“What the hell are we going to do? What can we do or say if he’s dead? I know we should have stayed in that jet. We should have gone there with him!” I wrap my hands around her. There’s a lump in my throat, size of a small bolder. It’s hard to talk past it.
“He threw you out for a good reason. He didn’t want you to get hurt. From what I heard from Marie, you couldn’t have helped him even if you went in with him. Those creatures… Lycans…”
“Bullshit, Scott! We could have helped! We should have helped! We didn’t, and now he’s dead! There’s a girl in that room who’s going to have his baby, and that baby will have no father because we were too afraid to help him!”
“Jean! He threw you out from the plane! Be happy it was still in the hangar! He would have thrown you out in mid-flight if you stayed, because he knew we weren’t able to help him! He didn’t want us to get hurt!”
I can hear them shouting. They are both so fucking sure that Logan is gone. He can’t be. Fuck that bath. Fuck those candles. I’m going to take him home.
Sneaking out is easy. Getting in to the garage proves to be little harder, but Logan once showed me how to pick that lock. His motorcycle stands in the corner. I have never driven it. I have never driven a motorcycle. Well, there’s always first time for everything. I just have to hope that I don’t fall down. That machine is huge. If it falls, there’s no way I can turn it back on its wheels again.
Oh, God… There’s so much dust and smoke I can hardly breathe… If I could just turn back, I could probably squeeze myself out of here… I’m so fucking tired… My body weighs a ton… That fucker tore me up pretty bad. It’s so hot in here. This place is like a fucking oven… same room I found Marie earlier. I thought I could get out through here, but staircase to surface is collapsed. Can’t go through mansion either. Too hot in there. I’ll just lay here. Floor is actually cool. Feels good… If only I could stop coughing… With next one I will probably spat my lungs out… Bet that would hurt… Why can I still smell it? I left that body somewhere to the attic? I must be hallucinating… Wouldn’t be the first time.
No. Not a hallucination. Fucker wasn’t dead yet. I have killed it at least ten times, and every fucking time it bounces back up again. It’s dragging me back to mansion. Firm grip from the loose hide around my neck. I can’t make my body move.
“You’re going down with the rest of the pack…” It growls, lifting me up with one arm, dangling me in front of its snout like I was an insolent puppy, in need of a good spanking. Maybe I am. I have thrown every trick in my book against it, and it’s still standing. I can’t even crawl on my own. I’m not sure if it recognizes me, or does it really think I’m one from the pack. I lift my hand and try to hit it. I manage one sloppy pat on its snout, and low rumble, amused laughter echoes from its chest.
“You always were more persistent than Victor.”
“Had to be… He had muscle… I had brain…” Again it laughs.
“Had. In past tense. You really thought you could take me down?”
“I know I can do it… Given enough time…” And this delicious opportunity. I raise my hand again and push claws out. Middle one sinks through lycan’s eye socket, and two others straight through its skull. It crumbles and we fall, bloodied heap of shredded flesh and broken bones. Fuck. I’m so God damned stupid. It fell straight on top of me, and it’s too heavy. Corpse pins me to the floor. Good eye just inches from mine looks for a moment like it’s trying to wink at me. Last pun. I can’t get out. Flames are spreading. Won’t take long now. Fuck. She’s going to gut me. I told her I’d be back by morning.
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