Finding Merlin was relatively easy. Getting in to his chambers proved to be harder.
“He just had to choose the highest possible tower… Haven’t they heard of elevators?” Logan lay panting on the steep spiral stair casing. Sweat was pouring from him in rivers. Yet he was shivering, as he was cold. Thermal shock, and they had barely reached the halfway marker. Marie tried to fan him with the hem of her skirt. Every sweep revealed tantalizing amount of bare skin and long shapely legs. Logan was quite sure he would have appreciated that if his heart weren’t trying to explode through his temples every time he tried to move or breathe.
“Merlin is the greatest of all magicians. I bet he doesn’t have to use these stairs…” Marie muttered and kneeled next to him, brushing sweat slicked hair away from his forehead. He was radiating heat. Suddenly he grimaced and every muscle in his body went rigid. He was stiff as a board.
“Hank…” He managed to hiss through clenched teeth.
“Clear!” Electricity coursed through Logan’s body once again. His heart constricted inefficiently couple of times and stopped. Hank abandoned the paddles and started compressions. He had been trying to resuscitate Logan nearly an hour now. For a while it looked like it was working, but then Logan had stopped responding altogether.
“It’s almost as… if he… was resisting…” Furry doctor was panting, exhausted. Professor Xavier who was monitoring his efforts frowned.
“We have to bring him back. He has been gone too long. Try with paddles again.” Hank waited until paddles were charged.
“Clear!” Scott moved away, taking the ventilating bag with him. This time they managed to produce a reaction out from the cold corpse in front of them. As soon as electric charge left Logan’s body, he lurched towards doctor McCoy and grasped the lapels of his jacket with stiff fingers. Cold, unseeing eyes fixed to his.
“Stop fucking around. Let me be.” His hold from Hank loosened and he fell, falling off from the gurney, as dead as he had been just couple seconds ago.
For a second Logan had disappeared completely. Now he was back, air wheezing in his throat, gagging and spluttering. He crawled clumsily to his hands and knees.
“We have to hurry. Hank and the rest of the crew are getting impatient…” He groaned and dragged himself up to his feet.
“What do you mean? Impatient?” Marie asked hurrying after him when he started to jog up the stairs.
“Never mind about that… Too long story… Just keep running…” Logan huffed, out of breath. He wasn’t going to tell her he was officially dead. It wouldn’t take long from Hank to start using desperate measures. He couldn’t leave Marie here alone, and he had no idea where he would end up if Hank actually managed to resuscitate him and he tried to return to her. As long as Hank kept his paws off from adrenalin and that huge cardiac needle that had been on a tray next to his gurney he could stay here. His ribcage would steer most of the current from the paddles away from his heart, and he was already too far-gone for manual compressions to work.
“This has to be it…” He was about to keel over. Marie behind him wasn’t faring much better. Layers of cloth she had on weighed a ton, and corset she had underneath wasn’t exactly sports model. Before he had time to knock the door in front of them opened, revealing a dimly lit chamber. Messy workbench in a corner, cozy looking couch and piles of pillows in front of a lit fireplace. Walls covered with thick, dusty books. Cloaked figure stood in the middle of the room.
Logan’s knees gave up and he collapsed heavily on the doorstep, clatter of his armor echoing down the stairs.
“Oh, my. Why didn’t you call? I could have picked you up. Those stairs are so tiring,” Merlin said, going to his workbench. Despite his weakness Marie had to put up quite an effort to prevent Logan from strangling the wizard.
“We came to ask your help,” she said, jostling Logan to the couch in front of the fireplace and forced him to lie down on it. He was trembling so hard that his armor sounded like some sort of clockwork.
“Yes. You’re not from around here, and you wish to go home. Sir Wolverine won’t have any problems with his return. In fact your friends are trying to pull him back there as we speak. You need my help to get back,” wizard said twirling a lock of his long, white beard between his fingers.
“What do you mean? Logan, what is he talking about?” She asked, turning to look at quite guilty looking Logan.
“I had to do something. I needed to get inside of you… Not that way!” He huffed when Merlin let out a chuckle.
“Jeesh, how old are you, wizard? Twelve? I had to get inside of your mind, Marie. Chuck wasn’t going to help me.”
“What did you do?” Her voice had faded to a whisper and all color was draining from her face.
“I’m dead. And as soon as they find a way to wake me up, I’m out of here.”
“Very suave. I bet you are a regular chick-magnet back in home…” Merlin commented.
“Oh, shut up.” As soon as Marie had figured out what exactly he had done she had stormed out from the room, angry as hell.
“Well, you didn’t come to me to seek guidance in your relationship…” Merlin started.
“We do not have a relationship,” Logan said quickly.
“Right. Tell me another one… The spell I need to do to transfer her back to home is big. Very big,” Merlin said.
“How much?” Logan asked.
“How much are you willing to pay for her safety?” Merlin asked.
“Anything. And you fucking knew that already. Name your price.”
“It’s not what I need. It’s what this kingdom needs. Shackle the dragon, and I send her home.”
“You don’t ask much. Could I perhaps bring you the moon and stars from the sky while I’m at it?” Logan snorted.
“And remember, we need that dragon alive. Under no circumstances are you allowed to kill it.”
“Do me one favor, and we have a deal…”
Logan had killed himself to find her. She didn’t know how to handle that knowledge. How to wrap her mind around the fact that her brave white knight was in reality a walking corpse. How long? How long had he been dead already? What kind of damage this would do to him? Even his mutation had limits. There was no telling if he could even return safely back to his body. And he had to know that. He wasn’t stupid.
She ran down the stairs that they had run up just few minutes ago. When she reached the first level that held a stone bench for those who needed to rest she stopped, lay down on the bench and curled to a tiny ball, trying to calm her mind and body.
“I don’t like this. I should take that needle and use it, rather than just sit here and wait,” Hank grumbled, wringing his hands and staring at the big, cruel looking cardiac needle that he had already filled with adrenalin.
“First, do no harm…” Scott whispered.
“Yes. I’m sure Logan had a good reason to refuse your treatment,” professor reassured.
“This must be the first,” Hank noted dryly.
“Clinically dead patient telling the doctor to back off.”
“Have you noticed this? Why there are bruises on his hands? Logan doesn’t get bruises,” Scott suddenly noticed. Hank sighed heavily.
“His mutation is starting to give up. When he grabbed me, his claws must have chafed some veins and muscles. Given enough time we will most likely discover more bruising. I wouldn’t rule out fast decomposing of his tissues either. I wouldn’t rule out anything, seeing as how little we understand about his physique.”
“Thanks about this.” Merlin could manipulate adamantium like a true master. Now his clumsy armor was gone, molded back inside of him where it belonged.
“You’re welcome. But remember. We really need that dragon alive. Kill it, and I will see that neither of you gets back home.”
“Yeah. But I have a princess to catch up before that…” Logan said, walking out. He never saw a crooked smile on Merlin’s face, or how the wizard raised his hand and draw strange looking, glowing pattern to thin air.
Marie’s eyes closed. She had been absolutely horrified and angry just few minutes ago, but right now she was exhausted. Hard and cold stone under her felt like heavenly soft bed. She could hear quiet whispers around her, soothing touches all over her suddenly aching body. She fell deeper and deeper in to slumber. She heard approaching footsteps. Probably Logan. He would pick her up from here. He would take care of her.
“Where the fuck did you go now?” He was standing on the ground floor, in front of tower’s entrance. There was no sign of Marie. She couldn’t have gone very far, not with bare feet. Courtyard of the castle was paved with small, sharp edged pebbles. He rolled his shoulders, trying to get again used to wearing clothes instead of armor. Merlin had given him pants, shoes and tunic made out of soft, black leather. There was a paw print of an animal embroidered to his chest with golden string. Wolverine.
He tried to track down her scent, but people were crossing his path constantly, and soon he had to give up.
“What should have I done, kid? I couldn’t just leave you alone with that dragon…” He huffed, kicking pebbles.
“Sir Wolverine! Sir Wolverine!” A herd of midgets wearing body armors that reminded a tin can surrounded him. Dwarves. And from the looks of it they were going to a war. Every one of them was carrying a mean looking axe, nearly as tall as dwarves themselves.
“What?” He barked. He had thought he would have gotten rid of them for good.
“We would like to introduce ourselves.”
“Let me guess… Dopey, Grumpy, Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy and Happy?” Logan grunted. He had had no idea he remembered those names.
“Yes. And we came to help you. You’re going to capture the dragon, aren’t you?” Doc asked.
“Actually there’s something you could do. Find lady Marie and tell her I want to talk with her,” he said quickly. He had no will or intentions to let giant lizard make roast beef out of quite popular fairytale characters.
“You’re going to hunt down a dragon, and send us after your girlfriend?” Grumpy asked.
“She’s not my girlfriend. And last time I saw her, she was quite mad at me. I have no idea where she went, and I’m starting to get worried. I have great sense of smell, and I can usually track her down easily, but now it’s like she’s vanished to thin air. I really need your help with finding her.”
“Sir Wolverine and lady Marie sitting under a tree, k-i-s-s…” Happy’s voice faded when claws shot out from Logan’s hands.
“She’s not my girlfriend. Got it, bub?” he growled, leaning close enough to see small golden flecks in Happy’s eyes, teeth bared to an angry snarl.
“But I’m ready to do anything for her. Anything. Scoot! Fetch her before this urge to slice and dice becomes unbearable!” All he had to do was to straighten his back and flail his hands a bit, and dwarves scattered to every possible direction. If Marie was anywhere in this are, they would find her.
“And now I have a dragon to capture…”
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