Disclaimer: I don’t own the X-Men; however, I did make up the new characters in this story. I’m making no money off this, so no suing.

Summary: After their first major victory, the new X-Men must face a new, even more dangerous enemy.

Rating: PG-13 (A few curse words, some mild violence, and a few sexual situations, but nothin' major…)

Author’s Note: This is the sequel to The More Things Change…, a fic where the children of the former X-Men create a new team. The first story can be found in the fanfiction section of my website at https://www.angelfire.com/scifi/addielogan.

Archiving and Feedback: Again, drop me a line and let me know what you think! Email me at Addie_Logan@yahoo.com or instant message me on AIM as ChereRogueMarie. I’ll authorize any archiving, just email me and let me know where you’re posting it.

 

New X-Men Chronicles Part II:

Clinging to Falling Angels

By: Addie Logan

 

Dramatis Personae:

X-Men:

Addie Logan—Wildcat

Ric LeBeau—Renegade

Marie LeBeau—Charger

Kacie Drake—Ice Queen

Rebecca Munroe—Rainmaker

Billy Starsmore—Sparks

Warren Worthington IV—Shadow Stalker

Twister

Rachel Summers—Phoenix

Allies:

Briana Braddock—Captain Britain

Craig Marshal—Canis

Dr. Angela Worthington

Paige Guthrie-Starsmore—Husk

The Dark Angel

Nathan Summers—Cable

 

*** *** ***

Adanya Caitlin Logan glanced away from the movie and over at her date, Ric LeBeau. She tried to take his hand, but he pulled away. Logan slumped in her seat. She wondered if Ric would even notice if she got up and left. She forced herself to look back up at the screen.

When the movie was over, Ric got up , left the theater, and waited impatiently for her beside the door. Once she reached him, he immediately began to walk towards the car without even making eye contact with Logan. When he got to his car, he reached into the pocket of his jacket and began to fumble around, looking for his keys.

Logan reached up and placed a hand on his shoulder. Ric bristled. "Ric?"

"What is it, Addie?" he asked without turning around.

"Can we talk?" she asked.

Ric turned around and looked down at her with annoyance. "Now? I’m tired and I want to get home and go to bed."

Logan felt her lip tremble for just a second, but she soon regained her usual composure. "I just want to know what’s wrong?"

Ric almost asked her what she meant, but knew he shouldn’t ask a question that he already knew the answer to. "This isn’t working—us I mean."

It was a statement that Logan knew had been hanging between them, waiting to be said, ever since the magnetic force-field Ric used to be able to touch her had suddenly fluctuated, making Logan feel as if her bones were actually being ripped through her skin. Still, actually hearing those words come out of Ric’s mouth, having them still ringing in her ears, was too much for Logan to handle. Her last bit of strength faded away, and she broke into an uncharacteristic fit of tears.

Ric reached out his hand to her, but then quickly pulled away, suddenly afraid to touch her even with his gloves on. "I’m sorry, Addie. This is just the way it has to be."

Logan said nothing. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

"Don’t do this here, please. Just get in the car. We’ll talk later," Ric pleaded.

Logan walked over to the passenger’s side and waited for Ric to unlock the door. When he did, she got into the car, buckled her seatbelt, and pulled her leather jacket tighter around her.

Ric turned his head to say something to her, but the words caught in his throat when he looked over and saw tears still streaming down her face.

They drove home in silence.

*** *** ***

Logan came down to breakfast the next morning doing her best to act as if nothing had happened. Still, everything stopped as soon as she walked in the room, and Logan could tell from the looks on her friends’ faces that they had a pretty good idea of what had happened. A few people had been there when Logan and Ric had come home the night before, and had seen them come in without saying a word to each other and then go off in separate directions.

"Mornin’," Logan said as she made her way to the pantry to get some cereal. The X-Men watched her intently as she got her breakfast, as if they were waiting for her to break at any moment. She ignored them for the most part, continuing to go about her business as if it were any other morning.

Ric came in just as Logan sat down at the table, and the tension level in the room rose even higher. Logan ate her breakfast as if Ric wasn’t even there, and Ric didn’t even look in her direction. When she was done, Logan put her bowl in the sink and left the kitchen. Marie ran after her.

"Logan," Marie said once they were down the hall. She put her hand on her friend’s shoulder to stop her.

Logan moved Marie’s hand away and turned around. "I’m really not in the mood to talk," she said.

Marie sighed with frustration. "Don’t be this way, Logan. I know you’re hurting, and I want to help you. You can’t keep your feelings all bottled up inside—you told me that yourself once."

Kacie joined them. "Marie’s right. Why don’t you just talk to us?" she said.

Marie put her arm around Logan. "Yeah. Stop trying to be so wolverineish."

Logan smiled as she looked at her two best friends. "Fine, I’ll talk. Let’s just go somewhere a little more private than the middle of the hallway."

*** *** ***

Logan sat down on the couch in the den. "So you guys really want to talk, or can I just run away now?" she asked.

Kacie and Marie sat down on either side of Logan. "You need to let it out," Kacie said.

Logan let out a deep breath. "Fine, I’ll tell you want I can but…" She glanced down at her hands. "It still really hurts."

Marie put her hand on Logan’s shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. "It’ll be okay. Just tell us what you can."

Logan kept staring down at her hands. "Things got bad so quickly," she said. "We loved each other so much at first, and I know I never stopped. I’d like to think he didn’t stop either But well, see we thought we were going to be able to touch, but we didn’t even consider the effect his magnetic powers would have on my skeleton. At first, everything was going great. He could keep his shield down to a level that it had no effect on my bones. Problem was, he didn’t have very good control over his powers. Then, once while we were kissing, his powers went haywire and he hit me with this magnetic pulse. He couldn’t get it to stop, and it was hurting me really bad. It took all the strength I had just to get away from him before it killed me. After that, Ric didn’t seem to want to be around me much anymore, and I’m still not sure if it was because he was afraid he’d hurt me, or if he just wanted someone he could touch."

"So last night he called it off," Marie said.

Logan nodded. "Yeah, that’s pretty much it. I can’t blame him for leaving though. We were—drifting apart, I guess."

"How did you take it, you know, when he told you?" Kacie asked.

Logan grimaced. "Not as well as I would’ve expected. I cried—a lot."

Marie and Kacie looked at her incredulously. "You cried?" they asked in unison.

"Yeah," Logan replied, her voice soft and meek. She looked up for the first time since she started talking. "I wanted to say something, be mad at him for leaving me like that, but no words would come out. So I just burst into tears, right there in the parking lot of the movie theater. And I kept crying all the way home. I didn’t stop until I fell asleep."

Marie and Kacie both hugged Logan in turn, expressing their most sincere pity-fueled apologies. "I’m going to be all right, really," Logan protested.

Rachel and Rebecca came into the room to see Marie and Kacie comforting Logan. They came in and sat down on the floor in front of the couch. "Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah," Logan said. "I’ve been better, but then again, I’ve been worse, too."

"Maybe you could talk to Ric," Rebecca suggested. "He seems fairly upset himself."

Logan shook her head. "No. I miss him so much—I just don’t think I could handle talking to him right now. As much as it hurts, Ric’s right. We are better off apart."

"Do you really believe that?" Marie asked.

Suddenly, Logan’s lip began to tremble as the perfect composure that she usually tried so hard to maintain broke for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. She buried her head in her hands as her friends did their best top console her.

None of them noticed a pair of red eyes watching them silently from across the hall.

*** *** ***

"Uh hu. Uh hu. Coming this Wednesday? Okay…Warren and I will be there to pick you up. See you then. Good-bye." Angela hung up the telephone with a heavy sigh.

Warren walked into the kitchen and noticed the troubled expression on Angie’s face. "What’s wrong, Big Sis?" he asked.

"Briana’s comin for a visit."

Warren’s eyes grew wide with fear. “Briana Braddock? Please say you’re kidding."

"No, I’m not," Angie said, "though I wish I was. She’s flying in from London Wednesday."

"Why?" Warren asked.

Angela gave him a small smile. "To visit her favorite cousins, of course."

Warren frowned. "Aren’t we her only cousins?"

Angie laughed and ruffled Warren’s hair. "Look, I don’t want to see her any more than you do, but she’s flying in all the way from England just to see us, so we might as well be nice about it."

"Isn’t she too busy with being Captain Britain or something?" asked Warren.

"Apparently not. Come on, Warren, don’t get so bent out of shape. She isn’t quite as bad as you think. Maybe she’s even lightened up since the last time we saw her."

Warren shot her a dirty look.

Cable walked in and began to look around. "I’m the only other person in the room," Warren muttered.

Cable went over to Angela and kissed her as Warren stared down at the floor. He was already tired of being one of the few people that knew Nathan and Angela were a couple and having to deal with them acting like a couple of lovesick school kids whenever they were around him. Personally, he found their behavior, well, disturbing—especially since it was Cable of all people. Warren sighed inwardly. At least his sister was happy.

After a moment Warren cleared his throat and Nate and Angie pulled way from each other. Nathan sat down in the chair beside Angie and took her hand.

"Our cousin is coming into town next week," Angela said.

"I didn’t even know you guys had a cousin," Nate replied.

Warren grimaced. "Don’t like to talk about her much."

Cable raised an eyebrow. "She can’t be that bad."

"Well, she’s no picnic, but Warren does tend to overreact just a tad," Angie said.

"I’ve been traumatized!" Warren exclaimed.

Angela snickered. "Traumatized? Wouldn’t you say that’s a bit much?"

"She tried to kill me!"

"Really, Warren, it wasn’t as bad as all that," Angela said.

Warren crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. "You weren’t there. You don’t know."

Angie reached across the table to ruffle Warren’s hair again. "Everything will be fine. She’ll be gone before you know it."

Warren sighed heavily and Nathan smiled in amusement. "So what makes you think she tried to kill you?" Cable asked.

Warren threw his hands up in the air. "I don’t just think! I know! She came after me!" He pointed to Angela. "How can you be so calm about all this?!"

"I can be calm because it just isn’t that big of a deal. She’s going to get here and sure, she’ll be obnoxious. She’ll act all high and mighty and get on everyone’s nerves for about a week, then she’ll get back on the plane and return to London where she’ll be an ocean away and out of lives."

Warren sighed. "When has it ever been that easy where Briana’s concerned?"

Angie patted Warren on the shoulder. "Come on, Little Brother—just have a little faith."

*** *** ***

It had been three days since Ric had ended things, and Logan was beginning to wonder if she was going crazy. Every time she saw one of the happy couples that lived at the mansion, she felt a surge of jealousy followed by guilt for thinking that way about her friends. Every time she saw Ric, she felt the urge to either burst into tears or punch a wall and, much to her humiliation, it always seemed like the tears won out.

However, it was after she woke up one morning to find three little holes in the wall right above her bed that Logan decided she might need to get away from the mansion—and Ric—for a little while so she could clear her head. She ran her fingers delicately over the puncture holes in the wall, remembering her nightmare and wondering if she really was turning into her father.

Logan got out of bed, changed out of her nightclothes, and left the room. She crept down the hall and into Marie’s room which was, as usual, unlocked.

Marie LeBeau heard someone calling her name and slowly opened her eyes. Realizing someone was actually in her room, she sat up with a start.

"Marie, calm down, it’s just me," Logan said.

Marie felt her heartbeat began to slow down. "What in the world are you doing in here?" Marie asked. "It’s…" she glanced over at the clock on her bedside table, "five o’clock in the morning! And Saturday, too!"

"Sorry," Logan said, "but I need your help. Do you have a poster I could borrow?"

Marie gave Logan a puzzled look. "Why the hell do you need a poster at this time in the morning. Have you finally gone and lost your mind?"

Logan grimaced. "Maybe. The thing is, well, you see sometime during the night I had a nightmare and I, um, apparently, well, took it out on the wall."

"Are you saying you clawed your wall?"

"Yeah."

Marie climbed out of her bed and went over to her closet where she kept the posters that wouldn’t fit on her walls or ceiling. "Why exactly do you need one now?" she asked as she started rummaging through boxes. "Couldn’t you have waited until a more civilized hour?"

"I wanted to cover it up before anyone saw it," Logan said. "I just didn’t want the others to find out about it. I mean, I know my behavior change over the past few days has been rather noticeable, and I don’t want them thinking that this has anything to do with it. I’ve had nightmares ever since my run-in with the so-called ‘Weapon X,’ although I haven’t had one quite that bad in a while."

Marie continued looking through the posters. "Do you think this whole thing with Ric may have triggered the intensity of the dream somehow?" she asked.

"Maybe. The level of stress I’ve been under lately couldn’t have helped. But I still don’t want anyone to know about the wall. I don’t want Ric to know how strongly he’s affected me."

Marie selected a poster and shut the closet door. "Holes in the wall or not, I think Ric has a pretty good idea of what this has done to you."

Logan wanted to cry again, but held it back. "Then why is he doing this?" she asked.

"He thinks it’s for the best," Marie said, handing her the poster. "You said the same yourself."

"I’ve changed my mind. It isn’t."

"I know."

"Thanks for the poster, Marie," Logan said. "Go back to bed and I’ll see you a little later in the morning."

Marie nodded, just happy to be able to go back to sleep.

*** *** ***

Logan taped the poster over the three holes in her wall and then glanced at the clock. Five-thirty. It would be a while before anyone else would be awake. She pulled on a sweatshirt, went downstairs, and then out the mansion. She started walking through the woods, something that usually made her feel better. This time it didn’t. Logan began to walk faster and faster until eventually she was running. A branch hit her in the face and her claws shot out, slashing the branch from the tree. Logan stopped short. She sunk down to the ground and pulled her knees up to her chin, and cried.

A little while later, Logan got up, brushed herself off, and walked back to the mansion. She went up to the kitchen, picked up the telephone, and dialed the number from memory.

"Hello?"

"Daddy, I need to come home for a little while."

Within the hour, Logan was pulling away from the mansion on the back of her father’s motorcycle. When the X-Men came down later that morning, they found a note on the fridge.

*** *** ***

"Gone to visit my parents. Shouldn’t stay too long. I’ll call you guys soon. Logan." Kacie Drake read the note aloud.

"So she just leaves with nothing to say goodbye but a note on the fridge?" Rachel asked.

Marie frowned, remembering the visit she’d had from Logan earlier that morning. "She’s being all wolverineish again," she said.

"She told us where she went…" Kacie pointed out.

"At least this is in keeping more with her personality," Rebecca said. "She was beginning to worry me with her frequent breakdowns."

Ric walked into the kitchen and everyone turned around and stared at him. "What?" he asked.

Marie felt a sudden surge of anger at her brother. "You chased Logan off," she said.

"What are you talking about?" Ric asked.

Marie took the note from Kacie and handed it to Ric. He read it. "Oh," he said softly.

Rebecca put her hand on Marie’s shoulder. "Come on. Let us get ready and go shopping."

Marie glanced back at Ric. "Yeah. Sounds like a good idea."

The X-Men filed out of the kitchen, leaving Ric alone with Logan’s note.

*** *** ***

The young man stood in front of the door. He looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. House number 202. He looked back up at the door. House number 202. He felt the urge to turn and run, but he knew it would only be prolonging the inevitable. After a year of searching, he had an address. The young man took a deep breath. Maybe it would be the wrong address, and he’d be sent away to continue a never-ending search. He frowned. Was that really what he wanted? He’d been searching for a part of himself and even though he was afraid of what he might find, he knew the time had come. He knocked at the door.

A petite girl who looked about sixteen years old answered the door. "Yes?"

"Um, yeah, hi, I’m Craig Marshall. I’m looking for a Mr. Logan."

The girl looked back into the house. "DAD! There’s some guy at the door for you!" she called.

Craig felt the desire to turn and run grow even stronger. This man had a daughter, and odds were, he had a wife, too. Craig felt guilty. What if his sudden appearance ruined this guy’s life? Craig made up his mind. The girl had gone back in the house. He could make his escape right then.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Craig heard a gruff voice ask.

Craig realized he’d missed his chance to leave and he might as well go through with the reason why he’d come. He took a deep breath and asked, "Did you know a woman named Jane Marshall?"

The compact, muscular man frowned, as if he were trying to remember. Craig reached into his pocket, pulled out a photograph, and handed it to the man. "Here. This is her."

Logan looked down at the picture and a swarm of memories from a weekend twenty-five years ago came flooding back. "Yeah, I knew her."

Craig took a deep breath. "I’m her son and, well, I think you may be my father."

*** *** ***

Warren pouted. "Her plane’s here."

Angela glared at him. "I know. That’s probably why people are getting off of it."

"Let’s just leave her here," Warren suggested. "I bet if we made a break for it now, she’d never even know we were here at all."

"We are not going to leave Briana stranded in the airport. It’s rude. Besides, she knows where we live and she’ll come after us," Angela said. A tall, strikingly-beautiful blonde woman came off the plane. "Here she is. Look happy."

"I hate you," Warren said, his smile unwavering.

"Love you, too."

Briana walked over to her to her cousins. She smiled, hugging them both. "Warren, Angie! It’s so great to see you both!" she said. Warren continued to smile, although somehow he still managed to look the very picture of misery.

By the time they were headed towards the car, he was pouting again. Angela moved back to talk to her brother. "Cheer up," she ordered.

"That would be a hell of a lot easier if she wasn’t making me carry all her luggage," Warren said through gritted teeth. "It certainly doesn’t feel like she’s only staying for a week. Unless she’s taken up masonry for a hobby…"

"Looks like only a week’s worth of her packing to me," Angie said. "You know how much stuff Briana claims to need."

Warren shifted one of the suitcases in order to ease the ache in his arms. He cursed the builders of the airport for making the parking lot so far away from the gate. "Isn’t there some sort of limit to how much you can take on international flights?" he asked.

"I think they make an exception if you happen to be Captain Britain," Angie replied.

"Whatever," Warren said. "Why did they give her that title anyway? She’s an idiot."

"They gave it to her because her father was Captain Britain before her, and she’s his only child," Angie explained. "Not that it mattes much. Nowadays the name’s mostly for show."

Briana was waiting by the car tapping her foot when Angela and Warren got there. "What took you so bloody long?" she asked.

"I would’ve been here sooner but I was dragging your da…" Warren caught Angie’s stern look out of the corner of his eye. "Sorry," he finished lamely.

"Put everything in the trunk," Briana ordered with a wave of her hand. "And do be careful not to break anything."

"Put everything in the trunk. Do be careful not to break anything," Warren mimicked once Briana had gotten into the car. "It’s my own damn car, and I’ll do whatever the hell I want to do with whatever I choose to put in it." He carefully placed all of Briana’s bags in the trunk.

Angela patted Warren’s shoulder.

*** *** ***

Logan had been gone for four days, and Ric had barely eaten, slept, or spoken that whole time. He was cold and distant towards everyone, even Marie. At school, he simply did whatever work was assigned to him, avoiding conversation with anyone and spending the majority of his time staring at the clock. He was especially distant in the classes he shared with Logan and always sat in the back, whereas she sat in the front. Logan hadn’t said one word to him—hadn’t even looked at him—since she’d gone back home, and Ric was still uncertain about how he felt about that.

Ric now sat alone in his room, listening to his most depressing music and feeling rather sorry for himself. He heard a knock at his door and reached out with his magnetic powers to turn the doorknob. Marie stepped into the room.

"Warren and Angie’s cousin is here. You wanna come downstairs and meet her?" Marie asked.

"Nope."

"Rather sit in here wallowing in angst-ridden misery?"

"Yep."

Marie put her fists on her hips. "Well, I don’t see what you’re so damn upset about," she said.

"What? Are you stupid? You should know exactly why I’m upset!"

"Well, I know why you’re claiming to be upset," Marie said, "but I don’t think you have any right to mope around about that."

Ric got up and walked over to her. "I don’t have any right to mope around? I just broke up with my girlfriend!"

Marie glared up at him. "Exactly. You broke up with her. You did it to yourself. Logan is still in love with you, and she didn’t want it to end. Anything that you’re feeling because of that is your own fault. Besides, if you’re so miserable you know her number. Call her and work things out."

"You know I can’t do that, Marie," Ric said.

"Why not?" Marie asked. "Pride?"

Ric sighed, exasperated with his younger sister. "Pride has nothing to do with it. It just wouldn’t ever work. I can’t touch her," he said.

"You could work on controlling your magnetic shield," Marie said. "With some actual effort you could probably succeed. Besides, Mom learned how to control her powers. Why can’t you?"

"It’s too much for me," Ric said. "I might get it right someday, but that could take years, and in the meantime the littlest touch could hurt Logan. It’s not right for me to keep her in a relationship where she’s in danger. Besides, she deserves someone who can touch her."

"So you’re going to let the fact that she can’t touch your skin keep you away from the woman you love?" Marie asked.

"Yeah, that’s pretty much it."

"That’s ridiculous."

"You’re too young to understand, Marie."

Marie threw her hands up into the air. "Whatever, Ric. Just sit here being all broken-hearted, completely cutting yourself off from human contact, and see if I friggin’ care. If that’s gonna be your attitude, you deserve to be unhappy. I’m just sorry you had to make one of my best friends miserable along with you."

Ric’s eyes narrowed into red slits. "Good-bye, Marie."

"Bye, Richard," Marie snapped as she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Ric lay down on his bed and went back to listening to his music.

*** *** ***

Wolverine invited Craig into the house. "The girl who answered the door is your daughter, huh?" Craig asked as Wolverine led him into the living room.

"Yeah. Her name’s Addie," Logan said. He pointed to the couch. "Have a seat."

Craig sat down on the couch and Wolverine sat across from him. "So you say you think you’re my son," Logan said.

"Yeah, well, my mother said you were—or at least a man fitting your description," Craig said.

"Well, then chances are, I’m him. Ain’t too many guys around that look like me," Logan said. "Can I see the picture again?"

"Sure," Craig replied as he pulled it back out of his pocket. "Dammit."

"What is it?" Logan asked.

Craig looked nervous. "Nothing really…just a paper-cut."

"Want a Band-Aid or somethin’?"

"NO! I mean…I’m fine…really."

"Ya healed up already, didn’t ya, Kid?"

Craig’s eyes grew wide. "How…how did you know that?"

Logan smiled. "’Cause I do that, too. It’s called a healin’ factor. Means you’re a mutant."

Craig nodded slowly. "I figured I was. I have ever since I fell out of a tree when I was twelve and within fifteen minutes I was as good as new. My mom was the only one who saw, and she told me not to tell anyone."

Jubilee walked into the room. "Honey, who was at the door?" She stopped when she saw Craig, "Oh. Hi."

Logan took Jubilee’s hand and led her over to Craig. "Craig, this is my wife, Jubilee; Jubilee, this is my son, Craig."

*** *** ***

"Are you planning to leave my room anytime soon?" asked an annoyed Rachel Summers.

"Briana’s out there," Warren answered. "I don’t want to see her."

"She’s your cousin. Go bond."

Someone knocked at the door and Rachel grumbled as she got up to answer it. It was Billy. "Is Warren here?" he asked.

"Yeah, I’m here," Warren called from inside the room.

Billy walked in, ignoring Rachel’s murderous look. "Your cousin is a pain, War," Billy said.

"Tell me about it," Warren replied.

"Can he tell you about it somewhere else, please?" Rachel asked. "I have a paper to write."

Another knock. Reluctantly, Rachel opened the door again. "Hey is…" Kacie stopped short. "Billy!" she said, coming into the room to get to her boyfriend. "She called me daft! Billy, am I daft?" She paused a second. “What does daft mean, anyway?”

Billy hugged her, trying not to laugh. "Of course not your not daft, my love."

Warren snickered.

Rachel started tapping her foot, her arms crossed firmly in front of her chest.

Twister walked in through the still-open door. "Hey, what are all y’all doing in here?" he asked.

"Hiding from Briana," Warren told him.

"I don’t blame you," Twister said. "I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rebecca dislike someone this adamantly before."

As if on cue, Rebecca walked into the room and wrapped her arms around Twister’s waist. Rachel threw her arms up in exasperation.

Warren, Billy, Kacie, Twister, and Rebecca struck up a conversation on the evils of Briana Braddock as Rachel continued to stand by the door, tapping her foot and looking about as red as her hair. The others ignored her and kept on talking.

Marie came skipping into the room, and Rachel’s patience broke. She pushed through the crowd, grabbed a disk out of her computer, and stormed out of the room in search of a place where she could finish her paper.

"Sheesh, what’s wrong with her?" Billy asked.

Warren shrugged and the conversation began again.

*** *** ***

In an act of desperation, Rachel used her telekinesis to unlock Addie’s door and went into her room, figuring that since Logan shouldn’t be home for a while that she might finally have a place where she could write her paper in peace.

Rachel walked into Logan’s room and looked around. She had only been in there a couple of times, but she noticed it really hadn’t changed much, save for a poster over the bed that Rachel thought would look more appropriate in Marie’s room than in Logan’s. She’d never thought that boy bands were quite Addie’s thing.

No sooner had Rachel finally sat down and turned on the computer, than did Briana come into the room. Rachel silently cursed herself for not shutting the door all the way behind her. "Hello, Briana," Rachel said without even attempting to fake her usual cheeriness.

"Where is everyone?" Briana asked.

Rachel debated whether or not she should tell her that they had all invaded her bedroom, but decided against it. If Briana knew they were in Rachel’s room, she might go in there and flush them out down the hall to Logan’s room. "I don’t know," Rachel lied, hoping that Briana would just go away.

"Oh," Briana said. She sat down on the bed behind Rachel, and Rachel grimaced. She waited for a second for Briana to say something, and when she didn’t, Rachel put her disk into the computer and started working on her paper.

"What are you writing?" Briana asked once Rachel had typed a few lines.

"My psychology term paper that’s due tomorrow," Rachel answered.

"Shouldn’t you have started earlier?"

"I’ve been too busy," Rachel said through clenched teeth.

Briana leaned over Rachel’s shoulder and read what was written on the computer screen. "It would sound better if you wrote that sentence like this," Briana said, reaching over Rachel to make the correction. Rachel sighed then continued typing.

Briana hovered over Rachel. "You missed a comma there," she said, tapping a spot on the monitor.

Rachel clicked the mouse where Briana had indicated and slammed her finger down on the comma key.

"Couldn’t you come up with a better title?"

"I’m going somewhere else," Rachel announced as she snatched her disk from the drive and left the room in a huff.

"Some people are so touchy," Briana said once Rachel was gone.

*** *** ***

"Your son, huh?" Jubilee said, sitting down in the chair beside her husband. "Well, I guess I always knew something like this could happen with you, Logan."

Craig was shocked at how easily they both seemed to be taking this. "And I was afraid they’d be upset…" he thought.

"So have ya been tryin’ to find me for a while?" Wolverine asked.

"About a year," Craig answered. "That’s when my fa…that’s when Andrew Marshall died."

"Andrew was Jane’s husband, right?" Wolverine asked.

"Yes," Craig replied. "And I always thought he was my biological father…until my mother told me the truth."

Jubilee raised her eyebrows a little when she realized that Craig’s mother had been married at the time she knew Logan, but said nothing.

"I’m sorry for your loss," Wolverine said.

Craig looked down at the carpet. "It’s okay. We weren’t ever very close. I mean, he worked a lot, and I think there were always other women besides Mom."

"Yeah, I remember Janey sayin’ somethin’ about that," Logan said.

Craig looked up to meet Wolverine’s steady gaze. "How did you know my mother?" Craig asked. "She told me your relationship was brief—only one weekend—but she didn’t tell me much more than that."

Jubilee noticed Logan grow suddenly tense. She reached over and patted his leg. "I’m going to check on Adanya," she said. Wolverine gave her a nod and she left.

"Are you wife and daughter mutants, too?" Craig asked, the thought suddenly occurring to him.

"Yeah," Logan replied. "Jubilee can shoot fireworks outta her hands, and Addie’s got a healin’ factor like m…like us."

"I’m not used to being around other mutants," Craig said. "Actually, I tend to forget I’m one myself most of the time—until I get hurt, that is."

"Does it make ya uncomfortable? Bein’ around mutants."

"No."

Craig met Wolverine’s gaze again, and Craig noticed that there was something eerily familiar about Logan’s eyes. He realized with a start that they were almost exactly like his own. "So about my mother…" Craig said, getting back to the earlier topic.

"Yeah, Janey," Wolverine said. "There really isn’t much to say, Kid. Wish there was, for your sake. I met her at a bar, and we got to talkin’. She said she was married, but her husband didn’t pay much attention to her—always chasin’ other women and whatnot. I’m not sure exactly what happened after that, but she ended up askin’ me to spend the weekend with her at a cabin she had upstate, and I figure ya must’ve started somewhere up there."

Craig found it hard to believe that his mother would have gone off to spend the weekend in the family’s summer home with some strange man, but he was living proof that it must’ve happened. The healing factor, the eyes—this man had to be his father.

Reading the expression on Craig’s face, Logan said, "I don’t think she made a habit of that, Kid. When she was with me, she said she’s never done anything like that before, and I doubt she’s done it since."

"Do you want me to leave now?" Craig asked suddenly. "I mean, you have a nice family here…I’m intruding…"

"You ain’t intrudin’," Logan said. "You’re my son, and I don’t want ya just walkin’ outta my life now that I know about you. Give it at least week before ya decide ya want to run away from me," Wolverine said.

"But your family…" Craig’s voice trailed off as he remembered how nonchalant Logan’s wife had been about the whole thing.

"They’ll be fine," Wolverine assured Craig. "They realize that I’ve had a, well, full life. Actually, I think Jubilee’s been expectin’ somethin’ like this the whole seventeen years we’ve been married."

"’Full life,’ huh?" Craig thought. "Guess that explains why they’re all so calm about this."

Jubilee came into the room with Addie. Wolverine looked up at his daughter. "Pun’kin, this is Craig—my son and your half-brother."

"My WHAT!?" Addie yelled. "Oh this is just it!" She turned around and ran back down the hallway."

"Well, maybe not everyone’s calm," Craig amended his earlier thought.

*** *** ***

Rachel went downstairs to the medlab. Her brother, Nathan, was sitting on one of the lab tables with Dr. Angela Worthington sitting in his lap. They were giggling and talking in hushed tones. Rachel walked right past them and to the computer. "I’m commandeering this, Angie," Rachel announced.

"Um, Ray…" Cable began.

"I swear, Nate, if you say one word about wanting your privacy I will be short one much-older, time-traveling brother."

Angie and Nathan hurried out of the medlab without saying anything else, finally giving Rachel the peace and quiet she’d been searching for all afternoon.

*** *** ***

Jubilee glanced at Craig and Wolverine and then ran after Addie. "Uh, sorry about that," Wolverine said.

"I take it she’s not too thrilled with the idea of having an older brother all of the sudden," Craig said.

"She’ll come around," Logan assured him. "It’s been a rough week for her. She just broke up with her boyfriend."

"Ah. She’s taking that pretty hard?" Craig asked.

"She loves him," Wolverine replied with a sigh. "And he’s basically a good kid. A few problems, but I can think of people I’d like her bein’ with a lot less. And even though I don’t like the idea of her bein’ with any guy, really, I wish she was still with him. At least Ric made her happy, and I hate to see her hurtin’."

"You’re protective of her, aren’t you?" Craig commented.

"Yeah, I’m real protective of her. Always have been," Logan said. "Although I’m not sure how much she needs it anymore. She’s growin’ up so fast, and I think she’s reached a point where she’s more than capable of takin’ care of herself."

Jubilee came back into the living room. "Addie’s crying again, Logan," she said. "You need to go talk to her."

Logan nodded. "I’ll be back in a minute."

Wolverine walked down the hall to Addie’s room and Jubilee sat down across from Craig, After a few moments of silence, Craig said, "So, I guess you’re my step-mother."

Jubilee’s eyes got wide. "Jeez, I didn’t think about that!" She laughed. "I wonder if I’m even old enough to be your mother."

"How old are you—if you don’t mind me asking."

"I’m forty-one," Jubilee said.

"So that means you’re sixteen years older than me," Craig said, quickly doing the math. "How much older than you is Logan?"

"Honestly, I’m not sure," Jubilee replied. "No one’s been able to determine his age. He does have some memories of fighting in World War II, however."

Craig blanched. "World War II?! Wow…"

*** *** ***

Logan came into Addie’s room and went over to the bed where she lay on her stomach, crying into her pillow. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "Hey, Pun’kin."

"I don’t want to talk to you," she said, her voice muffled.

"Addie, this really ain’t that bad, Kiddo," Wolverine said.

Addie sat up and Logan winced at the sight of her tearstained face. He’d always hated seeing her cry. "Yes it is," she said. "It’s just awful."

"Why?"

"Because you, me, and Mom, we’ve always been a family—just the three of us—and now there’s someone else. I don’t want you to have some other kid," Addie explained.

"Pun’kin, c’mere," Logan said, holding his arms out to her. Addie quickly moved into her father’s embrace and began to cry on her shoulder. "First off, Craig isn’t a kid. He’s twenty-five. I doubt he’s gonna be around here a lot, changin’ our family life. Second, you’re my little girl and nothin’ is ever gonna change that. Ya don’t have to feel threatened by Craig. I’m not gonna love ya any less."

Addie played with the necklace with the wildcat charm that she wore. Her father had given it to her, and she never took it off. "I just don’t want to ever lose you, Daddy."

"Ya ain’t gonna lose me, Pun’kin," Wolverine assured her, "so don’t ya worry about that."

"I love you, Daddy."

"I love ya, too, Kid. Now will ya come out and meet Craig?"

"I already met him."

"Adanya…"

"But I don’t want a brother," Addie said.

"Well, it looks like ya have one anyway," Wolverine replied.

"I didn’t have any say in that."

"Who does?"

"Are you sure he’s your son?" Addie asked. "He could be wrong…"

"He has a healin’ factor," Wolverine told her.

"Why did you have to have so many women in you past?"

"I’ve lived a long life. If I’d waited for your mother to show up, I would’ve exploded."

"Are any other people going to show up claiming to be your offspring?" Addie asked.

"Hopefully not," Logan answered. "One’s enough."

"One’s too many," Addie muttered.

Wolverine hugged his daughter. "No need for ya to get jealous, Pun’kin."

"I’m not, It’s just…" Addie frowned. "So what if I’m jealous! Maybe I just don’t want to have to share you."

Logan laughed. "What’s so funny?" Addie asked.

"Nothin’, Kid. I was just thinkin’ how you’re just about as possessive as your mother. Don’t worry about it, though. I doubt you’ll have to share me much."

"I better not," Addie grumbled. "He may be older than me, but I still had you first."

Wolverine kissed the top of her head. "C’mon. Let’s get back out there."

"Fine, I’ll go," Addie conceded, "but I am not making any promises to like him."

*** *** ***

A man with wings that glowed like fire stood high atop a mountain, staring into the night sky. His dark blue eyes where cold, emotionless, as he watched the stars. He had won his last battle, but he knew his enemy would not stay down for long. There would be another attack soon, and the fire-winged man had discovered the coordinates of the next planet his enemy planned to conquer. He had also discovered through old Shi’ar records that a group of heroes—the type legends were made of—resided on that planet. They could help him in his never-ending quest.

The man knew he had to reach these heroes quickly, before it was too late. He spread his flaming wings and leapt into the sky, breaking through the atmosphere and hurtling through space. He would’ve prayed that he’d make it there before the Dark One if he hadn’t already given up all faith in prayer.

*** *** ***

"We miss you around the mansion, you know," Marie said to Logan as the two of them plus Kacie walked through the mall.

"Really? What, did you guys actually have to go out and buy a can opener?" Logan asked.

"Nah, we love you for more than your usefulness as a kitchen gadget," Kacie said with her usual giggle.

"I miss being at the mansion, too," Logan said. "I miss hanging out with you guys all the time. I miss working out in the Danger Room. I miss the three of us having prank wars with Billy and Warren. I miss trying to sneak pizza in when it’s Rachel’s night to cook. Heck, I even miss Rachel!"

"So why don’t you come back home, Logan?" Kacie asked.

"I can’t right now," Logan said.

"Does being around Ric bother you that much?" Marie asked. "You’re around him a lot in school."

"School is different," Logan explained. "Ric isn’t always right there, and I can just ignore him, concentrate on my work instead. But it’s more than just Ric right now."

"What? Some other guy?" Kacie asked.

"No…well, sort of…not the way you think," Logan replied.

"What is it then?" Kacie and Marie asked in unison.

"Craig Jackson Marshall. He showed up on my doorstep a couple of days ago, and well, apparently he’s my half-brother."

"You’re what? How did that happen?" Kacie asked.

"Oh, you know my dad," Logan said. "He just couldn’t keep his hands off the women before he settled down with Mom."

"So what’s Craig like?" asked Marie. "Is he nice?"

"I guess he’s okay," Logan said. "I don’t much like him, though. He looks sorta like my dad, but he’s not nearly as short, hairy, or beat-up."

Marie tried unsuccessfully to stifle a giggle. "Does his hair grow up in little points?"

Logan laughed, too. "No."

"So how old is he? Where does he live? Does he have a job? Is he cute?" Kacie hit Logan with a barrage of questions.

Logan took a deep breath and answered, "He’s twenty-five, lives in New York City where he works on Wall Street as a stockbroker, and as for him being cute, I’m his sister, so I can’t really judge, but he’s not ugly."

"Is he a mutant?" Marie asked.

"Yeah. He has a healing factor," Logan responded.

"Must be a dominant gene," Kacie commented.

"What does Jubilee think of him?" asked Marie.

"She likes him," Logan replied, "though she was a little weirded out by the fact that she’s only sixteen years older than her stepson."

"So you have an older brother now," Marie said. "Cool."

"Not cool," Logan said.

"Why not?" Kacie asked.

"Because I was happier without siblings," Logan said.

"At least you didn’t have to grow up with him," Marie grumbled

"Can we meet him?" asked Kacie.

"Yeah. He’s coming to the mansion next weekend," Logan said. "My dad wants to show him around. I’ll probably be coming back myself then, too."

Kacie and Marie suddenly looked even happier than usual. "You better come back," Kacie said.

"Yeah," Marie added. "Things just haven’t been the same without you."

*** *** ***

Addie stared out the window of the car, watching how quickly the trees passed by and wishing she could put the world into slow motion. She had told her parents she was over what had happened with Ric and was ready to go back to the mansion, but the closer she got the less sure of that she was. The crying had stopped, something which Logan was extremely grateful for, but she wasn’t sure if being around Ric again wouldn’t re-trigger the childish tears.

She saw Craig reflected in the window, and began to dread going to the mansion even more. He’d taken time off his busy life in New York City to come to and see how the X-Men operated. Addie could tell her father wanted Craig to join the team, at least as an unofficial member, and Addie couldn’t for the life of her figure out why. Personally, she didn’t think he’d be much of an asset to them. Well, that and the fact that if Craig was an X-Man, he would be spending a lot of his time under the same roof as her. Addie wasn’t ready for quite that much sibling bonding.

As the car pulled up to the mansion, Addie wished she could make herself even smaller, so maybe she could hide under the seats or something. She hated herself for thinking that way. She was an X-Man, the daughter of Wolverine, and the killer of Sabretooth. Why was she reduced to a weak, crying baby desperate for a hiding place just because some guy had broken up with her? She swore to herself right then and there that she wasn’t going to cry even one more tear over Ric LeBeau. She’d recover her pride and walk tall, never again showing Ric just how much he’d hurt her.

Addie Logan walked to the mansion calm and poised, and did not let her resolve break—not even when Ric was the one to answer the door.

*** *** ***

Ric felt his throat go dry when he opened the door and saw Wolverine standing in front of him. Wolverine flared up at the sight of Ric, and Ric could tell by the way that the older man was clenching his fists that he was struggling to keep his claws in. Jubilee placed her hand firmly on her husband’s shoulder. "Where’s Paige?" she asked.

Ric pointed behind him. "She’s in the main room," he said.

"Thanks, Ric," Jubilee said with a smile as she led her family into the house.

Wolverine gave Ric one more glare before pushing past him. Addie ignored him completely, something that hurt Ric more than he would’ve guessed, since he thought he’d gotten used to that at school. Craig gave him a small nod.

Ric shut the door and went the opposite direction.

*** *** ***

Wolverine, Logan, Craig, and Jubilee went into the main room. Paige disengaged from the conversation she was having with a tall, blonde girl that Addie didn’t recognize, but figured must be Briana Braddock. Wolverine and Jubilee moved into the other room with Paige to talk, leaving Craig and Logan alone with the blonde.

"Hi, you’re Briana, right?" Logan said.

Briana looked up slowly. "Yes. You must be Logan and…" she stopped as she looked over at Craig. "Hello."

"Hey," Craig said with a grin. "I’m Craig Marshall."

Briana walked over to him and shook his hand, letting her fingers linger a little longer than was necessary. "Briana Braddock," she said with her perfectly manicured British accent.

Craig smiled at her, and Briana blushed and turned away slightly. Logan suppressed her gag-reflex. From what Logan had heard from her friends, Briana was just about the most annoying person ever to live, and her new "brother" was falling all over her.

"Yeah, well, I’m going to find people. You kids play nice," Logan said, leaving the room.

Craig smiled more and Briana blushed harder. Briana quickly composed herself, then took Craig’s hand again, leading him over to the couch. They sat down and began to talk.

*** *** ***

"Anybody miss me?" Logan asked as she walked into the recroom.

"Logan!" Marie yelled, running up to her to give her a hug.

Kacie looked up from the pool table. "Good to have you back," she said. "It’s been all boring without you."

Logan went over to Kacie and gave her a quick hug, too. "So who’s winning?" she asked, surveying the pool game.

"She’s been kicking my ass all day," Billy said.

"As usual," Kacie added.

"I’m awful at this game," Billy said.

"He’s awful at this game," Kacie confirmed.

Logan went over and sat down on the couch and watched her friends. She looked over and noticed a Ping-Pong game going on with Rachel and Warren versus Twister and Rebecca. The ball stared to go past Rachel, but suddenly stopped and sped back over to Rebecca and Twister. Twister frowned, and a gust of wind blew the ball back past Warren. All four of them broke into a sudden fit of giggles.

Logan leaned back on the couch and smiled. It felt good to be home.

*** *** ***

Marie ducked down to avoid a flying Ping-Pong ball and went over to Logan. "Where’s your brother?" Marie asked.

Logan rolled her eyes. "Craig’s busy flirting with Briana."

"Ew! How desperate is he?!" Marie exclaimed.

"I don’t know," Logan said. "I don’t really know her, so I can’t…"

"Trust me," Marie said, cutting Logan off, "this woman’s psycho."

"Psycho? Isn’t that a little harsh?" Logan asked.

"Talk to her for five minutes and you will become a believer."

Logan laughed. "If she’s that bad, I’ll just take your word on it."

"She so prissy even Rachel can’t stand her!" Marie said.

Logan’s eyes grew wide. "Wow. That’s bad."

"Yeah. And she’s decided to stay longer than she originally planned, too," Marie said with a groan.

"I hope that doesn’t make Craig want to stick around," Logan muttered.

"Why not?" Marie asked.

"I don’t know. I just don’t want him here," Logan said with a shrug.

"Well, I can relate to not wanting your older brother around," Marie said, "but you should at least try to get to know him. Maybe he’s not as bad as you think."

Logan crossed her arms over her chest. "I don’t want to get to know him," she said.

Marie lightly smacked Logan’s arm. "Stubborn."

Logan grinned. "With my parents, how could I not be?"

*** *** ***

After dinner, Jubilee and Wolverine were getting ready to drive back home. "You sure you’re going to be okay here, Sweetie?" Jubilee asked Addie.

"Of course!" Addie replied. "I’m not going to let some guy keep me away from the mansion. I’m an X-Man. This is where I belong."

"If ya need us again, just call, okay, Pun’kin?" Wolverine said.

"You got it, Dad," Addie said. "But don’t worry. I’ll have my big brother here to take care of me."

"Behave."

"Yes, Daddy." Addie hugged Wolverine.

"Does he really bother you that much, Kiddo?"

"Nah," Addie said. "He’s okay, I guess. And I think the others are glad that he distracts Briana."

Logan ruffled his daughter’s hair, and she immediately reached up to smooth it down. "Be nice to your brother, Adanya."

"Don’t worry, Daddy. I will be."

*** *** ***

Briana smiled as Craig looked over at her. He thought she must be the world’s most beautiful woman. She walked over, sat down on the couch beside him, and put her hand on his leg. "I’m going to go into New York City and do some shopping," she told him. "Would you be willing to show me around, since you live there after all?"

Craig had never been one to pass up the opportunity to spend time with a woman as ravishing as Briana. "I’d love to," he said.

Briana smiled at him, batting her eyelashes slightly. "Thank you. You’re the only person here who’s nice to me," she said.

Craig frowned. "Why aren’t the others nice to you?" he asked.

"I guess they don’t like me." Briana looked up at Craig with seductive shyness. "You like me, don’t you?"

Craig swallowed hard. "Of course I do."

Briana smiled. "Good. I’ll be ready to leave around two o’clock. Meet me back here then." She got up from the couch, kissed Craig on the cheek, then went upstairs.

Craig watched her every move.

*** *** ***

He was the one they called the Dark Angel. He’d earned that name. He flew in, avenging the wrongs of the Dark One, but his behavior was anything by angelic. His hair was dark, his eyes were cold, and his features were handsome but stern. His wings were not made of conventional feathers, but of an energy that glowed like a flame.

The Dark Angel did not care that he had become numb, that all who saw him believed that he must have no soul. He no longer cared for anything or anyone. He did not do what he did because it was right or just, or because he wanted to be a saving force in the universe. It was his life’s quest to stop the Dark One, and it had been as long as he could remember. It was his destiny.

He was working towards fulfilling that destiny even then, flying through space faster than any ship in the Shi’ar Empress’s armada. The Dark One would be to Earth in only a few days, and that didn’t give the Dark Angel much time. He would warn the heroes he’d been told could help him.

He would find the X-Men.

*** *** ***

Briana walked into the mansion with Craig behind her, carrying her shopping bags. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen anyone shop quite that much," Craig said.

Briana giggled. "It's a talent."

"You want me to carry these upstairs for you?" Craig asked, trying to pretend that the bags weren't getting too heavy. The last thing he wanted was to appear weak in front of Briana.

"Yes. You can carry them to my room for me. I will be able to handle them from there," she said.

Craig started to follow Briana upstairs when Logan came into the room and stopped them. "Hey, just wanted to let you guys know that we're having some sort of barbecue thing, so we're eating outside," Logan said.

"Outside?" Briana repeated. "But won't there be insects?"

Logan rolled her eyes. "No, I asked all the bugs to leave just for you. Anyway, if either of you wants food, it's by the pool."

"Yeah, okay, thanks," Craig said, still trying not to strain under the weight of Briana's bags.

Logan gave them both an overly sweet—and obviously fake—grin and left the room.

Craig followed Briana upstairs.

*** *** ***

"Are they going to come out here?" Rachel asked when Logan rejoined the others.

Logan shrugged. "I'm not sure. Apparently Captain Bitchy has a problem with 'insects,' and my dear older brother is busy following her around like a sick puppy."

Rachel gave a quick laugh. "I'd just as soon she stayed in. I can't stand that woman."

"Why, Summers, I do believe that is the first time I've actually heard you come right out and admit to not liking someone. Must be Warren's negative influence," Logan said.

Rachel glanced over to where Billy and Warren were currently engaged in a watergun fight. "Oh yes. Warren is such a bad boy. He is definitely corrupting me."

Logan laughed. "You guys really do make a good couple." She caught a glimpse of Ric out of the corner of her eye. "It's nice that you've found someone you can be happy with."

Rachel picked up on the telepathic signals Logan was emanating. "Logan, I know we haven't really been good friends since we were little kids, especially over the past few months, but if you ever need anything—even if it's just someone to listen to you—I’m here, okay?"

"I know, Ray, thanks," Logan said, giving Rachel's hand a small pat. Rachel started to say something else, but before she had a chance, Kacie Drake, soaking wet and pouting, came over to them. "What happened to you?" Logan asked her.

"Billy and Warren attacked me," Kacie said, sulking. Rachel and Logan exchanged a quick glance, and the three girls leaned in to plot their revenge...

*** *** ***

"Are you sure you can lift all that weight?" Kacie asked Rachel.

Rachel nodded. "Sure. You just do my job, and I'll do mine. Logan's plan should work great."

Kacie gave her a nod and ran over to the pool. She put her hand in and, using her powers, lowered the temperature of the water to just above freezing. Rachel sneaked up behind Billy and Warren who were relaxing in a couple of lounge chairs by the pool. She telekinetically lifted the chairs, dumping the two men into the icy-cold water. Logan, Rachel, and Kacie were waiting at the edge of the pool when Warren and Billy climbed out. "I hope you know this means war," Warren stated matter-of-factly.

"We're counting on it," Kacie replied.

The guys ran to their waterguns and prepared to shoot; however, they were stopped by an onslaught of water balloons. The girls turned to see where those had come from. Logan laughed. "Nice shot, Marie!"

Marie gave a little bow.

The water fight came to an abrupt end, however, when Rebecca Munroe, current field commander of the X-Men approached. "I hate to interrupt," she said, "but I believe that there may be trouble."

"What's up?" Logan asked.

"It appears that something is coming towards the mansion," Rebecca said.

"What kind of 'something?'" Rachel asked.

"As far as we can tell, it is some sort of ball of light. It is approaching rather quickly."

Logan, Rachel, Kacie, Marie, Warren, and Billy followed Rebecca to where the other X-Men stood, watching the sky. The light was coming closer and closer to the mansion at an alarming rate.

"Um, you guys, if this turns out to be something bad, shouldn't we be doing a little more than just standing here?" Marie asked.

"By the time we prepare anything, it will have already arrived," Angela said. "Our only chance is to hope it's friendly."

"Gee, I feel all warm and safe now," Marie said. Logan elbowed her.

The light plummeted through the sky until it came to an abrupt stop right above the ground. The light began to take shape, revealing a tall man with wings made of what appeared to be flame. His hair was dark, his eyes cold blue. His wings grew dim and soon vanished entirely.

The X-Men stared at him in shock for a moment until Rebecca poised herself and stepped forward. "Who are you and why have you come here?" she asked.

The man looked Rebecca up and down then answered, "I am the Dark Angel. I have come seeking the heroes they call the X-Men."

Rebecca continued to stand tall and proud, making her look almost eerily like her mother. "We are the X-Men. What business do you have with us?"

"I have come to warn you of the impending arrival of the Dark One," the Dark Angel said, "as well as to request your help in defeating him."

Rebecca looked over at Rachel who gave a nod, indicating that she sensed no hostile intent. Angela did the same. "Come inside with us then, and there you may tell us more," Rebecca said.

"I will do that," the Dark Angel said.

Rebecca turned around and walked towards the mansion with the Dark Angel following closely behind. The other X-Men exchanged glances, then went after Rebecca and the Dark Angel. Marie ran up to walk beside Logan. "Damn, he's hot," Marie said.

"The Dark Angel?" Logan asked.

"Uh hu."

A small smile spread across Logan's face. "That he is. He seems to be a tad bit on the dangerous side, though."

"And that's a bad thing because...?" Marie asked.

Logan only response was a giggle.

*** *** ***

Rebecca led the Dark Angel into the War Room and motioned for him to sit. Cable stood to the side and a little behind of him, obviously ready to act at the first sign of trouble. Angie went over to him and whispered in his ear, "I don't sense any danger from him, Nate. A little hostility, yes, but no more than you usually radiate." Nathan gave her a stern frown.

The X-Men gathered around as Rebecca took her place at the head of the table, across from the Dark Angel. Paige stood near her, watching over and making sure things went smoothly. "So, Dark Angel," Rebecca began, "tell us your story."

"I come from the farthest reaches of the Shi’ar Empire," the Dark Angel said. "A being of the greatest evil, known as the Dark One, has for centuries been on a quest for universal domination, and he believes that by conquering Earth and enslaving the X-Men he will be closer to fulfilling that task. I have come here in order to prepare you for his arrival as well as to request your help in my fight against the Dark One. If you refuse, you are facing certain destruction."

"How long do we have until he arrives?" Rebecca asked.

"About seven of your standard days," the Dark Angel replied.

Silence fell over the room. Rebecca glanced around and saw that everyone wore the same expression of grim determination. She looked over at Paige, who gave her a nod of approval. "My team will be willing to help you in any ways necessary," Rebecca told the Dark Angel. "Are you prepared to discuss this matter further now?"

"If you don’t mind, I would like to be able to rest. My journey was long and drained much of my energy," the Dark Angel said.

"But of course," Rebecca said with a smile. "Logan, would you please show our guest to one of the spare rooms?"

"I'd be glad to," Logan replied, standing up. She looked over at Marie who mouthed the word "lucky." Logan tried to hide a blush. "Uh, the spare rooms are upstairs," Logan said, leading the Dark Angel out the door.

Ric caught the way the Dark Angel and Logan looked at each other and felt a sudden rush of jealousy.

*** *** ***

"So, do you have a name other than, ‘The Dark Angel?" Logan asked as she walked upstairs with him.

"I have never had the need for one," the Dark Angel replied. "Why?"

Logan shrugged. "Nothing. It’s just that that’s a lot to say."

"Oh." The Dark Angel thought for a moment. "You could come up with another name for me if you would like."

"I’ll see what I can come up with," Logan said. She paused, then asked. "Why are you so bent on stopping the Dark One anyway?"

"Why would I not be?" the Dark Angel asked. "He is evil in its purest form."

"I just meant, you’re alone on this. Why are you trying to stop such a powerful being on your own?"

"The others are gone," the Dark Angel replied, the sadness that tinged his voice the first sign Logan had seen of him having any emotion at all. "They are dead. I am the only one left. The Dark One killed them all."

"I’m sorry," Logan said.

"I do not want your pity."

"Sympathy then?"

They reached the door to the spare room before the Dark Angel could reply. "Well, here it is," Logan said. "If you need anything, just let one of us know."

"I will. Thank you," the Dark Angel said as he entered the room.

Logan reached out a hand to stop him, placing her palm against his well-muscled arm. He looked down at her with his intense blue eyes and Logan felt her breath catch. She pulled away when she suddenly realized she was staring. "I think I might have a name for you," she said.

"Oh? What is it?"

"Tristan."

"What does it mean?"

"Sadness."

The Dark Angel gave her a solemn nod. "I like it."

"Then good-bye for now, Tristan," Logan said.

"Good-bye for now, Logan."

*** *** ***

"I take it you’re a little wary of the Dark Angel," Angela said to Nathan as she sat behind him, massaging his back and shoulders.

"Well, shouldn’t I be?" Nate replied. "I mean, the guy came down from the sky on wings of fire telling us we’re going to be attacked by great evil, Angie. It’s not that I doubt the sincerity of his story—I am a telepath myself, after all—it’s just that I’m not sure about what he’s getting us in to. Paige and Rebecca both seem perfectly fine with just jumping straight into this, but I’m not sure if it’s what’s best for the team."

Angie leaned around to kiss him on the cheek. "I worry about that, too, but what choice do we have? He told us that the X-Men are in danger. What can we do but fight?"

"We were lucky before, in our battles against the New Brotherhood," Cable said. "What assurance do we have that those kids will be able to handle themselves against something to this magnitude?"

"We don’t, but we can’t stop them from doing what needs to be done because it may prove to be too much for them. They made a vow to face any danger that comes their way when they agreed to be X-Men," Angie said. "You know that better than anyone, Nate. It isn’t like you to think this way."

"No, it just isn’t like me to voice these thoughts when I do have them," Nathan corrected her. "I can be more open with you than I can be with other people."

"I’m glad you trust me."

Nathan met Angela’s gaze. "I love you."

Angie looked down and Cable frowned. "You’re not going to say it back, are you," he stated.

"I’m not sure I’m ready," Angie replied. "After Kerrigan…"

Nathan cut her off. "I’m not your ex-husband."

Angie sighed. "I know, but it’s still difficult for me."

Cable wanted to be mad at her, angry at her inability to express her feelings her him, but the sad look in her eyes and her drooping wings made even his heart melt. Nate pulled her into his arms. "I’m sorry, Baby," he said, although he wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for.

*** *** ***

Rachel, Rebecca, Marie, and Kacie were sprawled out around what had become known as the "Girls’ Den" in the X-Mansion, when Logan came in and sat down on the couch. "So what do you all think of the Dark Angel?" she asked, trying to make her question sound as nonchalant as possible.

Rebecca looked up from her book. "I am somewhat uncertain about him, as a leader should be, but if what he says about the Dark One coming for us is true, his help will be most beneficial."

Rachel flipped over a card in her solitaire game. "He sorta creeps me out," she said. "I mean the whole Dark-Angel-coming-to-warn-us-of-impending-doom thing is a tad bit scary."

Kacie snorted. "Oh yeah. That’s too bad, too, because everything up to this point in our lives has been all warm and fuzzy. If you ask me, the guy just knows how to make an entrance."

Marie continued to paint Kacie’s fingernails sky-blue. "I still say he’s way hot," Marie said.

"I’m going to have to agree with you on that one, ‘Rie," Logan said, with a smile.

All the girls stopped what they were doing and looked at Logan. "What? I just said I think he’s cute. Why are you all staring at me?"

"Because you have a crush on the Dark Angel," Kacie said.

"I do not!" Logan exclaimed. "I simply said I find him mildly attractive."

"You said ‘cute,’" Rachel reminded her.

"And agreed with Marie’s ‘way hot,’" Kacie pointed out.

"Just because I think he’s cute, or hot, or whatever, does not mean I have a crush on him," Logan said. "Besides, it’s too soon after Ric to start another relationship."

Rachel continued playing her card game. "Who said anything about a relationship?" she asked. "You could always just have a fling with the guy." The sudden silence in the room caused her to look up and see everyone staring at her, their mouths hanging open. "What?"

"That just wasn’t exactly what anyone expected to come out of your mouth, Rachel," Logan said.

Rachel shrugged. "I’m not as much of a prude as you guys swear I am," she said. "Just ask Warren."

Her friends continued to stare, their eyes growing wider. Kacie and Marie broke out into a fit of giggles. Rachel turned crimson. "That isn’t what I meant!" she yelled.

"Sure…" Logan teased. Rachel blushed even harder and tried to turn her concentration back to her game, staring at the cards as if she were the only one in the room. Rebecca smiled slightly as she continued reading her book. Logan grinned as she thought about Tristan. Maybe she would be able to get over Ric after all…

*** *** ***

Down the hall in the "Guys’ Den," the male half of the X-Men were also discussing the Dark Angel. Ric crossed his arms in front of him. "I don’t trust him a bit," he said.

Billy’s hands moved deftly across the game controller, causing his on-screen persona to kick Warren’s in the head. "You’re just saying that ‘cause of the way Logan was looking at him," he said.

Warren did his best to counteract Billy’s attack. "And the way that he was looking right back."

"They weren’t looking at each other," Ric declared.

"Yes they were. And I’d have to say there were definite sparks," Twister commented.

"There weren’t any damn sparks," Ric said.

"Sparks? What do I have to do with this?" Billy asked, making a reference to his codename.

Ric threw a pillow at Billy. "C’mon, Man, this is serious!"

"Hey!" Billy yelled, the momentary distraction allowing Warren to get the upper hand. "I seriously doubt that’s why they call them throw pillows." Billy tried to rebuild his advantage over Warren, but it was too late. The game ended, proclaiming Warren as the winner. Billy pouted. "Thanks, Ric. Now Warren’s actually beaten me. He’s gonna gloat forever."

"Yeah, well, at least the woman you love isn’t making eyes at someone else," Ric mumbled.

Twister frowned. "Ric, if you’re in love with Logan still, you really should tell her. She loves you, too, that much is obvious. Y’all could work it out."

"Twister’s right," Billy said. "I mean, I know it’s hard for you, what with your powers and all, but isn’t the fact that you love each other what really counts?"

"Easy for you to say," Ric answered. "You can touch Kacie."

"Look, we’re just trying to say that your feelings for Logan are obviously still strong if you’re acting this way about the Dark Angel. If the idea of her being with another guy bothers you this much, then just tell her," Warren said.

Ric stood up. "I hear enough of this from Marie. I don’t need it from you guys, too. It seems so simple to all of you: I love Logan, so I tell her and everything’s fine again. Well, it won’t work that way. You all know what happened to Wolverine when Magneto took his adamantium, and you know what happened to Addie when I hit her with that magnetic pulse. I shouldn’t even be in the same room with her, let alone in a relationship!" Ric paused, his next words coming out choked. "I could kill her with just one kiss."

"Ric…" Twister began.

"Look, I don’t want to talk about this anymore," Ric said. "I’m going to bed." He left the room before the others could say anything else.

*** *** ***

The Dark Angel stared out the window of his room in the X-Mansion. He shook his head. No, he wasn’t just the Dark Angel anymore. He was Tristan. He had a name. Logan had given him a name.

Logan. Tristan frowned as he thought about her. He could feel something stirring inside him, something he had thought had gone along with Maritheza when she died in his arms. Tristan set his face in grim determination. He was going to stop this now, before these feelings had a chance to grow. He’d sworn to stay emotionally dead forever, and one woman was not going to change that.

Tristan reminded himself that he barely even knew Logan; therefore, there was no point to him being afraid of falling for her. She was just another beautiful woman, and he’d sure seen plenty of them before. Logan was just another girl, nothing special. It would take no effort on his part to push her out of his mind.

The Dark Angel had already begun to think of himself as Tristan.

*** *** ***

"So, Dark Angel, can you tell us any more to prepare us for this great peril you say we are facing?" Rebecca asked the next morning when the X-Men again gathered in the War Room.

"Yes," he replied. He glanced over at Logan. "And you can call me Tristan now."

Ric didn’t miss the Dark Angel looking at Logan, nor did he miss the small smile that Logan gave him, as if they shared some sort of private joke. Ric felt his anger boiling inside him and fought back the urge to go over to Tristan and inform him that Logan was his, so he should back off.

"Okay, Tristan it is," Rebecca said. "What can you tell us about the Dark One and his mission?"

"As I said yesterday," Tristan began, "the Dark One is a being of pure evil. He is from just beyond the scope of the Shi’ar Empire, and has started trying to make it a part of his own Empire. He has begun to obtain his goal by taking over the smaller, less-defended worlds on the outskirts of Shi’ar space. Empress Lilandra has been alerted to his presence, and even the Dark One is wary to enter a full-sized war with the Shi’ar Empire. He feels that, in order to be successful, he must not only stop the Shi’ar, but obliterate their entire legacy from the pages of history."

"Harsh," Marie interjected. "How does he plan to do that? I mean, from what I know about the Shi’ar, they aren’t exactly easily defeated, never mind legacy-obliterating."

"That’s where all of you come in," Tristan said. "The Dark One has heard of the X-Men and believes that with them on his side he’ll be able to destroy the Shi’ar Empire."

"He’s insane!" Kacie exclaimed. "We aren’t any sort of indestructible fighting force! We aren’t even the original X-Men! We’re really just kids!"

Billy took hold of her hand. "Calm down, Honey," he whispered.

Kacie looked sheepish. “Sorry.”

"The Dark One isn’t going to care about any of that," Tristan said. "He will come here, enslave all of you as well as the rest of your planet, and then, if you aren’t what he expects, kill you."

"Gee, you know, that sounds fun, but I think I’ll pass," Marie said.

"I don’t think the Dark One’s gonna exactly hand any of us a ‘get out of enslavement free’ card," Logan said. She looked over at Tristan. "What do we need to do?" she asked him.

"I will help to prepare you for the Dark One’s arrival," Tristan replied. "I can tell you what you need to know in order to fight him, since I have the experience. I think with us fighting together stopping him may be possible."

"You said before that he will be here within a week," Rebecca said. "That does not give us much time. What do you need us to do?"

"I will have to train you to fight him, starting as soon as possible," Tristan said. "Do you have any place where you usually train?"

Rebecca nodded. "Let us show you the Danger Room."

*** *** ***

Angela pulled Craig and Briana into the medlab with her while the others went off to begin their training. "I’m sorry all this had to happen with the two of you here," Angie said. "I know you hadn’t planned on a crisis."

"It’s all right," Briana said. "As Captain Britain I have faced many a crisis."

"Finding my father has seemed to have led from one strange experience to the next," Craig said with a shrug.

"That’s what happens when you’re related to Wolverine," Angie said. "Anyway, Paige has said that since neither of you are official X-Men you are free to leave at anytime in order to avoid the Dark One."

Craig gave her a puzzled look. "How can I just leave when I know some pure evil guy wants to enslave Earth?" he asked. "I know I won’t be much help, but I can’t just do nothing."

Briana made a quick glance at Craig. "I agree with him. As Captain Britain I have sworn not to walk away from a challenge."

Angela nodded, her emotions pulling her in two different directions. Sensibly, she knew that she should be glad that Briana was staying, since the X-Men were going to need all the help they could get. Still, she was ready for her cousin to leave, Craig, on the other hand, she was unsure about completely. How much help in combat could a stockbroker possibly be? However, with his healing factor he did have the potential to become quite formidable. Angela decided she might as well accept help, no matter where it came from.

"Okay. I will have to talk to Paige and the other X-Men, but I’m sure they will be willing to let you stay. Briana, go join the others in their training session with the Dark Angel. Craig, you stay and let me run a few tests." Angie noticed Craig’s sudden discomfort at the word "tests" and added, "They’re just the standard tests I run on all the X-Men, nothing to sweat over."

"Let’s get them over with then," Craig said.

Briana got up to leave. She leaned over and kissed Craig on the cheek. "See you later, Handsome," she said. She gave Angie a nod and left the room.

Angela raised her eyebrows at the kiss, but decided it was better not to say anything. "Okay, let’s get these done," she said to Craig.

"Yeah, okay, if I must," Craig replied, standing up slowly.

"Are you okay?" Angie asked. "I’m sensing a great deal of nervousness from you."

"Sensing?" Craig frowned. "Oh yeah. I’m going to have to get used to being around telepaths."

"I’m not reading your mind or anything like that," Angela assured him. "It’s just that you’re projecting your thoughts rather loudly. I’ll have to teach you how to put up mental shields."

"Could we just work on that instead?" Craig asked.

Angela laughed. "I’m afraid not. What are you so worried about anyway? It’s not like I’m going to discover you have some life-threatening disease or anything."

Craig missed the irony in her words, since he was unaware that Angie was infected with the Legacy Virus. "I’ve just never liked medical exams much—not that I’ve needed many."

"What don’t you like about them?"

Craig frowned. "I’m not really sure. I guess when you get right down to it I was always afraid that someone was going to discover that I’m a mutant."

Angie put her hand on his shoulder. "Craig, I know you’re a mutant and I’m certainly not going to judge you for that. I mean, look at me—I have purple hair and wings!"

"You do have a point there. I guess it’s just an old habit dying hard." Craig grinned. "So, Dr. Worthington, are we going to get this started or not?"

*** *** ***

Angie pushed her glasses up on her nose as she looked over Craig’s x-rays again. Logan came into the medlab. She was still in her training uniform, and her hair was damp with sweat, but other than that it was impossible to tell she’d taken part in any sort of strenuous exercise. "Wish I had her healing factor," Angela thought for a brief second.

"You wanted to see me?" Logan asked.

"Yes. I want you to take a look at Craig’s x-rays for me," Angie said.

"Okay," Logan replied, "but I’m sure you know a whole lot more about this kind of stuff than I do."

"I’m not so sure that will be the case in this situation. Take a look at this," Angie said, pointing to an x-ray or Craig’s arm. "What does this look like to you?"

Logan frowned. "It looks like maybe Craig inherited yet another part of the family legacy."

"So you think they’re claws, too?"

"I’d bet good money on it."

"Do you think he knows?" Angie asked.

"He might," Logan said with a shrug. "My dad didn’t know he had claws until he became Weapon X, and even then he didn’t know that they were bone and an actual part of him until Magneto ripped out his adamantium."

"Did you know about yours before Weapon X?" Angela asked.

"No," Logan replied. "I mean, we always knew it was a possibility, but they never came out or anything." Logan’s claws popped out with an audible *SNIKT*. "I know they’re there now, though. Are you going to say anything to Craig?"

"I probably should," Angela said. "If he doesn’t know, the least I can do is warn him in case they do someday decide to, um, make an appearance."

"Yeah, a little warning could be a good thing," Logan said, letting her claws disappear back into her hands. "I still remember the first time mine came out. I was still messed up from my ordeal with ‘Weapon X,’ and they just shot out of my hand. The pain was excruciating, and all I could do was scream until I finally got them to go back in."

"I’m sorry that happened to you, Adanya," Angie said. "All of it."

"It’s all right," Logan said with a shrug. "I’m pretty much over it now. And it could’ve been a lot worse. Look at everything that happened to Wolverine."

"Still, most people wouldn’t be able to handle half the stuff you’ve gone through."

"One could say the same thing about you, Angie."

"Do you want to be in there when I tell Craig?"

"Not really," Logan said. "I need to get back to Tristan’s training session. Kacie made me promise not to be gone too long. If Craig needs any help with claw maintenance he can call my father. He’s the bone claw expert."

"Okay. You should get back before Kacie melts or something."

Logan laughed. "Hey, is Briana really joining us?" she asked.

"Yes."

Great," Logan groaned. "Warren’s gonna have a coronary over that one."

"He’ll get over it. Besides, Briana has to go back at some point. She can’t exactly be Captain Britain if she lives in the States," Angela said. "Oh, and Craig’s joining, too."

"Oh, wonderful," Logan said, rolling her eyes. She looked down for a moment, then back up at Angela. "If he doesn’t already know about the claws, try not to freak him out, okay?"

Angela smiled at that bit of sisterly concern that Logan swore wasn’t there coming out. "I’ll do my best."

*** *** ***

"Craig, I believe we need to talk," Angela said as she walked into the examination room where Craig was waiting for her.

"Uh-oh," Craig said. "I’ve learned that it’s never good when a woman starts a conversation like that."

Angela pulled a chair over and sat across from him. "Well, this could be either good or bad, depending on how you feel about it. But first, I have to ask you a question."

"What?"

Angela took a deep breath. "Have you ever had strange bone growths suddenly protrude from the backs of your hands?"

Craig stared down at his hands. "Once, about five years ago. It hurt like hell and it took everything I had just to get those things to go back it. I was terrified after that that they’d come back out when other people were around and they’d see that I’m a mutant, but it never happened again. I started to wonder if it was all some vivid dream."

"It wasn’t a dream," Angie said. "You have claws—like your father and your sister. However, theirs, like the rests of their skeletons, are bonded with the rare metal adamantium, while yours are not. Although they are bones only, your claws are still functional. If you would like to learn how to use them, I’m sure Wolverine could show you, though the decision whether or not to use them will be yours."

Craig ran his right hand over the knuckles of his left. "I’ll think about it, okay?"

"That is fine with me. The decision is yours alone to make, and there is no pressure either way," Angela said. "And other than that, you’re in perfect physical condition and free to join the rest of the team at any time."

"So I can leave now? I still don’t like these kinds of places."

Angie laughed. "Must be genetic. You should see your sister when she comes in here. She’s got the look of a trapped animal in her eyes."

"With her, I can imagine," Craig said as he got down from the exam table. "See ya around, Doc."

Angie smiled. "Bye, Craig."

*** *** ***

Warren paced back and forth across the floor of the Guy’s Den. "Why in the world does Briana have to join the team?" he asked. "Last thing we need on this team is Captain Bit…"

Billy cut him off. "Watch your mouth. Lady present."

Warren gave Billy a puzzled look, then glanced down to see Kacie sitting on the floor. She paused the video game she was playing with Billy long enough to look up at Warren and say, "Hi!"

"What are you doing in here?" Warren asked.

She nodded her head towards Billy. "Kicking his ass in this the way I do in everything else," Kacie replied.

"Oh, well, in that case, by all means stay," Warren said. "You know, I beat him at that last night."

"That isn’t fair!" Billy shouted with mock-outrage. "Ric hit me with a pillow!"

"Don’t try to pin your shortcomings on me, Bill," Ric teased from the other side of the room.

"Why is the whole world against me?" Billy asked.

"Because you’re an easy target," Kacie said.

"Love you, too, Kacie Gracie," Billy mumbled.

Kacie stuck her tongue out at him, to which Billy replied with a leer, "Later, Baby."

Kacie glared at him, then reached out with one hand to freeze the back of him neck, all the while never wavering in her game. Billy yelped and jumped back. Kacie giggled.

The game ended with Kacie celebrating her victory. "Anybody else brave enough to go up against me?" she asked.

"I will," Warren said.

"Okay," Kacie said with a shrug, "but I already know I’m going to beat you."

"What makes you so sure?" Warren asked.

"’Cause I can beat Billy, and Billy can beat you; therefore, I can beat you by the transitive property," Kacie explained.

"What?"

"Never mind," Kacie said. "Just sit down and prepare to be whooped."

*** *** ***

Logan waited for Tristan to answer the door, wondering if she was doing the right thing. Should she just leave before he got there? No, she decided she couldn’t be a wimp and just run off. She stood her ground and Tristan answered the door.

"Yes?"

Logan felt herself blushing fiercely, and she mentally berated herself for acting so stupid about something so simple. "Um, well, I just figured that since you’d seen the training facilities and that’s it, that you might want to check out the rest of the grounds—in case our battle with the Dark One takes place at the mansion, you’ll have a good feel of where you."

Tristan raised an eyebrow, a little confused by Logan’s fast-paced babbling. "What?"

Logan took a deep breath. "I guess what I’m trying to say is, would you like to go on a walk—with me?"

Tristan nodded. "I’d like that—very much."

Logan’s smile beamed up at him. "Great! So are you ready now, or…"

Tristan stepped out into the hall, shutting the door behind him. "Let’s go."

*** *** ***

Ric glared out the window as he watched Tristan and Logan walk off together. "I hate him," Ric growled through clenched teeth.

"’Hate,’ is a pretty strong word," Marie said as she walked up to stand beside Ric.

"Look at him, moving in on Logan like that! How can she just automatically trust him? How can any of you trust him? We know nothing about him!" Ric said.

"He hasn’t done anything to make us distrust him," Marie replied. "You just don’t like him because he’s showing an interest in Logan."

"You only trust him because you think he’s cute," Ric snapped.

"I’m not that shallow."

"Look, whether or not he betrays the team in the end, he will end up hurting Logan. That much is obvious," Ric said.

"He couldn’t possibly hurt her anymore than you already have."

Ric resumed glaring. "Just leave me alone. For once, Marie, leave me alone."

"Fine," Marie said, turning around to leave. "Sorry I even cared."

*** *** ***

"You have a nice place here," Tristan said as Logan showed him around the grounds of the X-Mansion.

"Yeah, I’ve always liked it," Logan replied. "I lived here when I was younger and I moved back a few months ago."

Tristan looked at her. "Well, it’s nice. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anything so beautiful." Logan blushed, realizing he was not talking solely about the gardens. "So tell me, Logan, what did you do in your time before returning to the mansion?" Tristan asked her.

Logan shrugged. "Not much, really. I just lived with my parents and went to school until Paige decided to reform the X-Men."

Tristan gave her an incredulous look. "Logan, I’ve seen you fight. You’re amazing. And your claws—they’re made of metal! That doesn’t suggest a boring life."

"I can fight that way because of my father."

"The one they call the ‘Wolverine?’"

Logan sighed. "Yeah, him. He taught me just about everything he knows so I’d be able to take care of myself. By the time I turned fourteen I’d already been kidnapped three times."

"By whom?"

"Two of the times were by a guy named Sabretooth. He’d probably still be after me if he was alive. The third time was by a group calling itself the new Weapon X program." Logan unsheathed her claws. "That’s where I got these."

"You were able to stay strong after all that?" Tristan asked.

"Other people have had worse happen to them," Logan replied. "And there’s no use in clutching to past sufferings."

"That is admirable," Tristan said. "So many people are weak and shed tears for things long since come and gone."

Logan tried to push away her sudden feeling of guilt at the thought of how she’d reacted when Ric had left her. "I take it you aren’t one of the weak ones," she said.

"No."

"What was your life like before you came here?" Logan asked.

"I have already pushed it from my mind."

Logan frowned. "You said before that the Dark One killed all your friends. How do you just forget about that?"

"Remembering the past clouds the present."

"What, only the present? Not the future, too?" Logan asked, her voice tinted with sarcasm.

"The future is not guaranteed."

Logan sighed. "Look, I understand the need to put the more painful aspects of your past behind you, but forgetting it completely? You can’t do that, Tristan!"

"Why? If I remember my past, then I will be remembering mainly pain, and I don’t have time for that."

"Then you have to make time! You can’t truly move on until you’ve made peace with your past sufferings, and you can’t do that unless you’ve given yourself time to grieve!"

Tristan’s expression grew darker, and Logan could almost feel the sadness in his eyes. "I was orphaned as a small child and taken in by a nomadic tribe of warriors who had dedicated their entire existence to battling the Dark One. We would travel from place to place in a never-ending struggle to defeat him once and for all. With them, I had a family, and with my beloved Maritheza, I had happiness. In the last battle between my people and the Dark One we were not victorious. We had thought that that would be his final day, but instead my whole tribe—my family, my beloved—was killed. The Dark One allowed only me to survive, so I could be a testament to his power, and forced me to forever wander as the fallen Dark Angel. My people died. It is my shame. I cannot shed tears for that."

"But can’t you see, Tristan, you aren’t shamed!" Logan said. "Even after you’ve lost everything, you continue to fight. You do less for their memory by trying to forget them."

Tristan looked away from her. "Mari would not want me to suffer."

"She wouldn’t want you to forget her, either."

"You didn’t know her!" Tristan exclaimed. "You know nothing! None of you know anything!"

"Well, then I guess you’re screwed, because we’re the ones who are helping you, Logan said. "I’ll leave you alone now to wallow in your nonexistent misery."

Tristan looked up only once Logan was gone.

*** *** ***

Craig started to go up the stairs when he heard Briana call out to him. He turned around. "Yeah?"

She ran over to him. "Is something wrong?" she asked. "You’ve been distant all night."

"I just have a lot on my mind," Craig replied.

"Are you rethinking your decision to stay?"

"No, it’s just all this is overwhelming. I’m a stockbroker from Wall Street who only remembers he’s different when he hurts himself. Now I’m in some mansion surrounded by super heroes."

"You’re handling it well," Briana said. "And you didn’t run when Angie offered the chance."

"It’s just so stressful. I mean, in the span of a week I find out my father is, well, Wolverine, I have claws hidden in my forearm, I have a little sister who, judging from the looks she’s been giving me, probably wants me dead, and some psychotic being of ‘the purest evil’ is coming to destroy Earth."

Briana stared at him for a moment, trying to decide what exactly she should do. She’d been flirting with Craig, sure. She’d even kissed him a time or two, but it had never gone past that. She had commitments back home. But seeing Craig now, illuminated by the soft light at the top of the stairs and that wild look in his eyes, she felt so weak that she had to grip the railing of the staircase in order to stand up straight. She tried to draw an image in her mind of what in London she should remain loyal to, but everything was fuzzy. Briana reached up and took Craig’s hand. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He stared down into her eyes and she melted. "Let me come upstairs with you," she said.

Craig nodded and led her up to his room.

*** *** ***

Tristan felt guilty, and that made him nervous. Not the emotion itself—he’d felt nothing but guilt ever since the Dark One had killed his people—but the reason for feeling guilty this time. He knew what he’d said to Logan at the end of their walk had upset her, and he now felt the need to apologize. He tried to forget about it, but the more time that passed, the more it ate at him.

He wandered around the mansion, but, much to his dismay, he couldn’t find Logan—or anyone else for that matter. Finally, he noticed someone sitting in a room by herself. Tristan recognized her as the younger girl whom he believed was named Marie. She was sitting on a couch, drawing vigorously on a sketchpad. Tristan walked into the room, standing just past the doorway. "Marie?" he said, hoping he had her name right.

Marie looked at him. "Hey, Dark Angel, what’s up?"

"I was looking for Logan," he replied. "Have you seen her?"

"She went into town with most of the others," Marie said. "I had to stay behind and work on my art project."

"What are you drawing?" Tristan asked.

"You can come over here and see if you want."

Tristan walked over and sat down next to Marie. She handed him the sketchpad. "Is this Renegade?" he asked.

"Yeah. He’s my brother, y’know."

"I thought he might be, judging from the way the two of you act around each other." Tristan studied her drawing for a moment. "He looks sad," he commented. "And almost lost."

"Sad and lost. That’s Ric in a nutshell," Marie said. "He hasn’t always been that way, though. He’s just had a hard time of it lately."

"Because of Logan?"

"That was more of a byproduct." Marie stopped. "How did you know about that? Did she tell you?"

Tristan shook his head. "No, I only guessed. He watches her like a forlorn lover."

"You seem to have a real knack for figuring people out," Marie said.

"I observe many things. Pay attention to the details."

Marie smiled a little. "I’ve observed some things myself."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Like the fact you have a thing for Logan."

"I do not have a “thing” for Logan."

"Sure…"

Tristan looked back down at the picture of Ric. "You are an exceptional artist."

Marie blushed. "Thanks. Drawing is just something I’ve always loved to do."

"And you have real talent for it. My people always had an appreciation for art. We felt that even in times of war, there must be a place for beauty."

Marie took the sketchpad from Tristan and flipped back a few pages to a picture she’d drawn of Logan. She tore the picture out. "Here. I want you to have this," she said.

"I…I could not," Tristan protested.

"I insist," Marie said, her fingers slightly touching his as she handed him the drawing.

"Thank you," Tristan said, giving in. He looked down at the picture then back up at Marie. "How long have you been drawing?"

"Almost all my life," Marie replied. "As long as I’ve been able to hold a pencil I’ve been drawing something. My mother enrolled me in art classes when I was eight. She found some pictures in my closet that I had done, showed them to my father, and they decided that classes would be good for me."

"Do you enjoy the classes?"

"Yes, very much. I took private lessons up until high school, and now I just take the ones offered by the school. Art is one of the most important things in my life," Marie said.

"From what I’ve seen of you, I would not have figured you to be an artist," Tristan admitted.

"Guess you aren’t as observant as you thought," Marie said with a wry smile. "No, actually, I’m not very vocal about how much I really do draw and paint. Even Logan, who’s one of my best friends, has no idea how much I love art."

"How does she not know?"

"She’s never asked."

"So you have other works, too, I suppose," Tristan said.

"Yeah, my portfolio’s in my room. You could come up and see it if you’d like."

Tristan nodded an affirmative.

*** *** ***

"Are you sure you’re okay, Logan?" Kacie asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Logan replied. "Why?"

"Because you’re just standing here, staring at the parking lot. Do you want to see the movie or is this entertainment enough for you?"

"I want to see the movie. This parking lot just, um, brings back some memories." Logan gave Kacie a weak smile.

Kacie put her arm around Logan’s shoulder. "C’mon. I’ve heard this movie’s funny. Maybe it’ll help take your mind of your troubles for a little while."

"Kacie, do you and Billy ever have problems?"

Kacie shrugged. "Sure. Every couple does. As a matter of fact, we got in this huge fight just the other day. I was about to kill him."

"How do you guys work things out?"

"We just do," Kacie said. "We’ve never been mad enough to not want to be together anymore."

"That’s the thing that gets me with Ric," Logan said. "We never fought. We only had one problem, and granted, it was a major one, but he never gave us the chance to work on it. And it was always his problem, never ours. And then he got so distant…" Logan kept staring at the spot where Ric had broken up with her, the last place they had stood together as a couple. "I kept hoping he’d come back and say that he didn’t really want to end it, that things had just gotten rough and he’d panicked. I kept hoping he’d come back and tell me we could get through this, together. I guess that’s something I should probably give up on now."

"Does you giving up have anything to do with Tristan?" Kacie asked.

"I don’t know," Logan replied. "Maybe it does, I’m still not sure. I’m attracted to him, but I know if I let myself get close to him, I’ll just get hurt. Tristan doesn’t seem like he’d be much for a stable relationship."

"You’re still young, Logan," Kacie said. "Just because your first serious relationship didn’t work out doesn’t mean you’ll never find anyone. And love and stability are not the only qualifiers for dating. Have fun with a guy for a little while! You’re only sixteen."

"And you’re like what, ninety?" Logan asked. "Aren’t I older than you?"

"No, uh, May, uh, comes before February. But seriously, don’t dwell on Ric so much. You have plenty of time to find someone that makes you truly happy."

"Ric did make me happy," Logan said. "He just had so many issues, and he hasn’t been the same ever since he absorbed Zach Tyson. It made him change so much… And he was always hurting inside. Seeing him in pain like that got to me, too."

Kacie nodded. "You know, you might need a less serious thing right now. It could help you to get over Ric completely."

"Maybe," Logan said, doubting that was even possible. "Now let’s go before we’re late."

*** *** ***

Tristan stepped tentatively into Marie’s room, leaving the door wide open behind him. He looked around and noticed that her walls we covered in posters, photographs, and magazine clippings. He realized that Marie had turned her room into a work of art—it was one giant collage.

"Sorry if it’s a mess in here," Marie said, drawing Tristan’s attention back to her. "I’ve never been the world’s most organized person."

"I’ve seen worse," Tristan said. Marie could’ve sworn she saw the corners of his lips curving in an almost-smile.

Marie reached under her bed and pulled out her leather-bound portfolio. "Here it is," she said, opening it up on her mattress.

Tristan walked over and looked at the pictures slowly, closely examining each one. "These are amazing. How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

Tristan looked obviously surprised by her age. "Have you ever displayed anything publicly?" he asked.

Marie blushed. "Not really. My art school would have shows and I’d contribute a painting or two, but it was never a big deal."

"You should do more than that. Talent like yours is a gift most people don’t have. You need to share it with others."

Marie blushed harder. Something about a compliment from Tristan made her lightheaded. "Why do you like art so much?" she asked. "Not exactly something I’d expect from someone who calls himself ‘The Dark Angel.’"

"My people were what you would call nomadic. We traveled from world to world, trying to keep up with the Dark One and his path of destruction. We would often arrive too late, finding only the holocaust the Dark One would leave in his wake. It was hard to go on sometimes, always bombarded by images of such hatred and anguish. We needed something to remind us what beauty was and what we were fighting for. Art was the way we did that."

"Are you an artist?" Marie asked.

"No, I’m awful in all honesty."

Marie giggled. "Can you draw a stick figure?"

"What’s a stick figure?"

"I’ll teach you sometime."

Tristan gave Marie a look that made her realize that he’d gotten the gist of her comment even if he hadn’t understood her completely. He looked back down at the pictures. "My beloved, Maritheza, was a great artist. She drew things of beauty such as she had never seen. When I asked her how, she said it was because she could see it in her heart and in the love she felt for me."

"What happened to her?" Marie asked.

"The Dark One delivered a killing blow to her, then threw her back at me so she could die in my arms and I could feel the ultimate pain of knowing I could do nothing to save her."

"I’m…I’m sorry."

"So am I."

After a long moment of silence, Tristan said, "I should be going."

"Okay," Marie said. "Thanks for wanting to come up here and see this stuff. Most people don’t."

"Thank you for being willing to share it with me. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anything like this." Then Tristan did something he had not done in a long time.

He smiled.

*** *** ***

As the night drew on, the various groups of X-Men began to return to the mansion. Kacie and Logan got home at almost the same time as Billy, Warren, and Ric. Kacie jumped out of the car and ran to Billy, who wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up to kiss her. "You’d think they’d been separated for a lot longer than a couple of hours," Logan commented.

"Tell me about it," Warren said. "And to think he didn’t want to go out with her at first."

"Guess he changed his mind," Logan said.

"Looks like it."

Ric walked by with only a small nod to Warren. Logan’s outward appearance didn’t waver. "Can I asked you something?" Warren said.

"Go ahead."

"Are you and Ric still friends? You don’t even say hello to each other anymore."

"We’re teammates," Logan said in a tone that made it clear that she wanted Warren to drop the subject.

"Wanna head on inside and let the lovebirds make out in the garage in private?" Warren asked.

Logan laughed. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

Warren and Logan came inside they found Tristan sitting on the couch, waiting. "May I talk to you Logan?" he asked.

"Uh, sure," Logan replied.

Warren took his cue to leave. "Good night, you guys," he said, going upstairs.

"Good night," Logan called over her shoulder to Warren. She sat down beside Tristan on the couch. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to apologize."

"For what?"

"For the way I acted earlier, for what I said. I did not mean it. You know a lot, and I am glad that the X-Men are helping me."

"And I’m sorry I tried to tell you what you’re feeling is wrong," Logan said.

Tristan shook his head. "No, you were right. It is just a difficult truth to accept."

"It would be easier if you relaxed some. You’re always so tense. You never even smile."

"You’re doing it again."

"Sorry."

"You look tired," Tristan said. "You should get some rest."

"Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ll see you tomorrow," Logan said, standing up.

Tristan nodded. "Have good dreams, Logan."

Logan smiled. "You, too."

*** *** ***

Logan was on her way up to her room when she met up with Ric in the hallway. He stopped and looked at her, and she knew it would be impossible for her to ignore him when they were standing face to face. "Uh, hey Ric," she said.

"Addie," he replied with a nod. He waited a moment, then said, "So, you and the Dark Angel seem to be getting along fairly well."

"Tristan’s my friend."

"You shouldn’t get close to him, Addie."

Logan’s anger flared up at the thought that Ric of all people was trying to tell her what to do. "Why? Are you jealous?" she snapped.

"No, it’s just that he’s dangerous," Ric replied. "I don’t want to see you get hurt."

Logan’s eyes narrowed into slits. "Don’t worry about me, Renegade," she said, her voice almost a growl. "I’m an old pro when it comes to getting hurt."

Ric was surprised by Logan’s vehement anger, but decided not to show it. "That might be true, but you’re playing with fire on this one, Wildcat," he said.

"No I’m not," Logan said. "Besides, Tristan and I are only friends."

"I’ve seen the way you act around him. It’s obvious that your feelings for him are a little more than just ‘friendly,’" Ric said.

"And I guess you would know how I act around guys I’m attracted to, wouldn’t you," Logan said. "Not that I thought you gave a damn."

"Addie, you know how much I love you."

"Really? I do? If you love me this sure is a strange way of showing it."

Ric blinked. "Logan, I broke up with you because I love you. Can’t you see that?"

Logan crossed her arms and glared at him. "No. Explain it to me."

"If I’d stayed with you, I could’ve hurt you—even killed you! I had to let you go so you’d be safe!"

Logan was livid by this point. "Don’t you act like you did this as some huge fucking favor to me, Ric. Don’t you dare. My skeleton makes me untouchable to you, and that’s the last kind of girlfriend a teenaged guy wants. Our relationship was a burden to you so you left. Don’t try to make yourself sound noble."

"But that isn’t true!" Ric protested. "I always loved you enough to be with you without being able to touch you!"

"Oh really? Then why aren’t we together now? The only time I was in any ‘danger’ was when you had your shield up so you could touch me. If you didn’t care about touching me, then you wouldn’t need the shield. And all that time we had feelings for each other, you never actually wanted to be with me until you thought we’d be able to touch."

"No! It wasn’t like that! It was just…" Ric’s voice trailed off.

"What, Ric? It was just what?"

"I don’t know!" Ric yelled. "But it wasn’t like that! It just never would have worked!"

"You took the easy way out," Logan said. "If you worried so much about hurting me, then you could’ve just worked more on controlling your shield and taken it slow with me until then. But you couldn’t do that. You gave up on us."

"I didn’t give up! I did what was best for both of us!"

Logan’s expression became emotionless. "You’re right, Renegade. You’re better off without me and I’m certainly better off without you." Logan walked down the hall and into her room, leaving Ric standing in the hall, speechless.

*** *** ***

Briana sat in a chair across from the bed, watching Craig sleep. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop feeling guilty, and guilt was not an emotion she was used to experiencing. She had obligations in England, and she had set them all aside so easily.

She hadn’t meant for this to happen, even after she’d met Craig. She’d thought it would be a little harmless flirtation, a guy to pine after her and make her trip to the States more enjoyable. It would just be something to keep her busy, nothing more. Plenty of other men had shown the same sort of interest in her as Craig, and she’d always been able to keep them interested without having to go too far. Briana Braddock had always liked to have men desperate for her.

But with Craig she’d gone from simply flirting in order to lead him on to actually falling for him. He hadn’t reacted so much in the way that other men did, with their eyes bulging out of their skulls and their tongues hanging down past their toes. No, for the most part, Craig had remained fairly calm around her. He’d shown an obvious attraction to her, but he’d never become desperate. Briana wondered if she had found someone who played her game as well as she did.

Briana knew the smart thing for her to do would be leave right then. Not just Craig’s room, or the mansion, but the whole country. She knew she should go back to Great Britain as soon as possible. There, she could go back to her real life and never have to look back at this again. So what if they thought she was being a coward and running from the supposed "Great Evil" that was coming towards Earth. At least in England she’d be safe from falling in love.

"Bri?" The soft sound of Craig’s voice made Briana jump. "You still here?"

"Yes, I’m here."

Briana heard Craig moving around in the dark as he sat up in bed. "Why are you over there?" he asked.

"I can’t sleep."

"Of course you can’t sleep sitting up in that chair," Craig teased. "Come back to bed." He paused for a moment. "Unless you want to leave, that is."

Briana stood up, her eyes darting between the bed and the door. "No, I don’t want to leave," she told him, getting back in the bed. Craig took her into his strong, comforting arms, and Briana tried to make herself focus on nothing but the present.

*** *** ***

Kacie collapsed on the floor of the Girls’ Den. "He’s trying to kill us," she announced.

"He’s only preparing us for our fight against the Dark One," Logan said.

Kacie glared up at her. "Stop defending your little boyfriend. I can’t feel my legs!"

"He is not my boyfriend," Logan said. "And it isn’t my fault you can’t handle the Danger Room."

Marie slumped into a chair. "I’m with Kacie. That was way beyond your average session in the Danger Room. If Tristan keeps this up, we won’t even be able to move when the Dark One gets here, let alone fight."

Logan shrugged. "I don’t see why you’re complaining. I feel fine."

Rachel looked up at her from the couch. "You have a healing factor. Us mere mortals, on the other hand, are in pain."

"Hmm. Guess you have a point there," Logan said, making her voice chipper just to annoy Rachel. "Oh well, you’ll all be feeling fine soon enough. No use pouting about it."

Kacie stared up at the ceiling. "My knee is killing me."

"Put some ice on it," Logan said with an evil grin.

Kacie slowly turned her head over towards Logan. "That’s it. You’re dead."

"You can’t even move. How do you plan to hurt me?" Logan asked.

"You forget," Kacie said, "I’m telekinetic."

"I don’t see any sharp objects flying at my head."

"It hurts too much to think that hard!"

Logan laughed as she took a pillow from the couch and gave it to Kacie so she could prop her knee up. "Any better?"

"A little," Kacie said, icing her knee over.

"Hey, Logan, think there’s any way I could borrow some of that healing factor?" Marie asked.

"I don’t think so, but you know I’d lend it to you if I could," Logan said.

"Is fighting the Dark One really going to be this difficult?" Rachel asked.

"No. It will most likely be much more so," Rebecca answered as she walked into the room. "Logan, I have just come back from speaking with Tristan, and he wishes to see you in the War Room right away," Rainmaker said.

"Me? Why?" Logan asked.

"He needs to discuss something with you concerning the upcoming battle."

"What?"

"He will tell you."

Logan nodded then ran out of the room to find Tristan.

*** *** ***

Tristan was waiting for Logan in the War Room. “You wanted to see me?” she said.

“Yes. Logan, I need to discus something important with you.”

Logan leaned on the table. “What?”

“I am not going to be able to lead the fight against the Dark One on my own. I am going to need someone who can help me direct the action, and whom I can trust to make command decisions if I am unable…if something were to happen to me.”

Logan could tell he meant, “if I died.” “Yes, of course,” she said. “But what does that have to do with me? Rebecca’s the leader of this outfit.”

“Yes, I am aware of that; however, Rainmaker and I discussed it, and we believed that you should be the one to lead by my side in this battle.”

Logan looked at him in surprise. “Me? Why me?”

“I observed you fighting in the Danger Room earlier today, Logan. It has been many years since I have seen a warrior with your level of natural talent. Fighting comes so naturally to you, and I believe leadership would, too,” Tristan explained.

“Yeah, well, I come from the best there is when it comes to fighting, but leadership? I’m a loner, Tristan. They stamped ‘does not play well with others’ on my forehead at birth.”

Tristan shook his head. “I don’t think so. You have too much warmth, Logan, despite what you want the others to believe. But you also have something else—you have fire, spirit. You give everything all you have, and when that’s not enough you somehow find the strength to push harder. I could see it in you the first time I looked into your eyes, and after getting to see more of you, I know I was right. Rebecca may be a cultivated leader yes, but you, Logan—Wildcat—are the one I need by my side.”

For a split second, the look in Tristan’s eyes made Logan wonder if when he said he needed her by his side, he meant for more than his battles against the Dark One. “I…Tristan…I don’t think I’ll be able to give you what you need…”

“I know you can, Logan. Please, say you’ll lead with me. I need you.”

Logan nodded. “I’ll do it.”

He leaned in and kissed the top of her head chastely. “Thank you.”

*** *** ***

Logan went back to the den after her chat with Tristan to find that Marie was the only one still in there. “Where is everyone?” Logan asked her.

Marie put the television on mute. “Sleeping. Tristan wore them out.”

Logan shook her head. “Wussies,” she said was a small smile.

“So what did the winged-one want with you? You guys playin’ tonsil-hockey yet?”

Logan rolled her eyes. “Your maturity astounds me at times, Marie.”

Marie shrugged. “Hey, it’s my duty as the youngest member of the X-Men to make every attempt to be as immature as possible. And trust me, with Bobby and Jubilee as my predecessors, I’ve got a lot to live up to…”

“What about Kit Pryde? She was the youngest at one time.”

Marie shuddered. “Please, never compare me to her in any way, shape, or form again. She was just annoying…”

“Tell me about it,” Logan said, plopping down on the couch beside Marie. “She calls my dad all the time to complain about living in Russia.”

“Does he care?”

“Not really. I think he’s still ticked because Kit acted like a total bitch when Mom and Dad got together.”

“Probably,” Marie agreed. “Hey, you never answered my question about Tristan.”

“Oooh…that winged-one. I thought you were accusing me of having an affair with Angela.”

Marie rolled her eyes. “Don’t play dumb with me. Besides, we both know you wouldn’t do that—Cable would kick your ass.”

Logan’s eyes got wide. “You know about that?”

“Cable and Angie? Of course! Geez, I’m not a moron. I don’t know who they think they’re fooling…”

Logan laughed. “I thought I was the only one who knew.”

“Nope. Warren, Rachel, Kacie, and Billy know, too. Basically, Twister, Rebecca, and Ric are out of the loop—though I doubt it would come as a surprise to any of them.”

“Why didn’t any of you guys tell me you knew. I’ve wanted to make like a million comments about it.”

Marie giggled. “We thought you were one of the ones in the dark. We only recently figured out we all knew…”

“Well, glad to know I’m not alone.”

“So spill about Tristan. Otherwise, I’m chargin’ something and throwin’ it at your head…”

Logan laughed. “Fine. Basically, he asked me to be his second-in-command during the battle against the Dark One.”

“What about Rebecca?” Marie asked.

Logan shook her head. “Tristan wants it to be me.”

“Did you accept?”

“Yes.”

“But you’re more like the brawn of the group—I didn’t think you even liked leading.”

“That’s pretty much what I said, but Tristan said I could do it. Something about a fire in my eyes.”

“Fire in your eyes?” Marie giggled. “The man’s in love.”

“I don’t think so.”

“I do. You gonna go for it?”

“Go for it? With Tristan? No way.”

“Why not? He’s like a big, fiery sex-god. Did you see him when he was fighting today? Drool. Besides, he’s got a really nice smile.”

Logan looked at Marie abruptly. “Smile? You saw him smile? I didn’t even think he could. When did you see him smile.”

“Last night. I showed him my art and he liked it. He told me I had amazing talent.” Marie looked pleased with herself.

Logan gave her a light punch in the arm. “Maybe you’re the one he’s in love with.”

Marie rolled her eyes. “Please. I’m a kid. Besides, the only kind of guys that like me are ones like Damien Thomas.”

“Damien wasn’t that bad.”

Marie shrugged. “Yeah, I guess he came through for us in the end, but I certainly don’t miss him being around the mansion all the time, making goo-goo eyes at me.

Logan laughed. “You’re a mess, Marie.”

Marie gave her a very Gambit-like smile. “With my parents, what else did you expect?”

*** *** ***

Tristan walked through the moonlit gardens, taking the same path he had before with Logan. He couldn’t get her out of her mind. Although the action would’ve been commonplace among his people, Tristan regretted kissing Logan on the forehead earlier in the War Room. Her skin had been so cool, so sweet under his lips and he shivered at the thought of how just that little touch had felt. He wanted more.

Tristan stopped at stared up at the stars, wondering if Maritheza’s soul was somewhere among them. He took a deep breath, allowing himself to finally think of her, to remember her. He could suddenly see her face so clearly in his mind, and not just what she looked like as she lay dying in his arms as it had been for him in the past. He could see her smile, hear her laughter. He remembered the sparkle in her green eyes—how alive she’d always looked.

He wondered what Maritheza would think of Logan. Would she like her, or would she be jealous of the developing feelings that Tristan was still afraid to admit to completely? Tristan felt a cool breeze brush past him and he missed her more than he had since she first had died.

Tristan looked back down at the ground. Maybe Logan had been right when she had told him to accept the past in order to move on with the future. Could he block Mari’s memory from his mind forever?

The Dark Angel stared up into the heavens, and for the first time since her death he allowed himself to cry for Maritheza.

*** *** ***

The next morning, Rebecca called all the X-Men to the War Room for a briefing and to inform them that Logan would be taking over the leadership position for the time being. Most of the team was surprised, but understood the decision.

Ric LeBeau, on the other hand, walked out of the room.

Tristan followed.

Logan started to get up and stop him, but Marie stopped her. “Let them go. They probably need to talk anyway.”

“About what?” Logan asked. “They’re just going to piss each other off.”

Marie nodded. “Probably, but it’s better they do it now than on the battle field, Logan.”

Logan sighed. “You’re right. How’d you get so smart anyway?”

Marie shrugged. “Luck.”

*** *** ***

“Renegade.”

Ric stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing at the sound of the Dark Angel’s voice. He turned around slowly. “What the hell do you want.”

Tristan looked emotionless. “Why did you leave the War Room?”

“Why does it matter to you?”

“I have a lot riding on this upcoming battle. I cannot afford dissention among the team.”

“The team? You aren’t even part of the team.”

“I know that, but you and Logan are.”

“Whatever is going on between Addie and me is none of your business.”

“It is if it affects the outcome of this offensive against the Dark One.”

Ric glared at Tristan, his red eyes making him look almost possessed. “You’re one to talk, letting your desire for a woman fuel your choice on who should be leading with you.”

Tristan raised an eyebrow. “You think I want to bed Logan and that’s why I chose her to be my second-in-command?”

“I can’t think of a better reason. Wildcat’s not exactly a natural born leader.”

“You’re wrong there, Renegade.”

“I know her a lot better than you ever will,” Ric said. “She’s a loner with a bad temper—not exactly the candidate for the next Scott Summers.”

“Who?”

Ric sighed. “That’s not the point.” He ran a gloved hand though his hair, mussing up white streaks in the front. “Look, if you really want this battle to have the outcome you  need, then pay less attention to Addie’s curves and more attention to her personality.”

Tristan showed the faintest signs of anger and Ric’s words. “I have been paying attention to her personality, and I’ve seen that she has everything that a leader needs. I keep hearing that she’s a loner—she said it herself even—but I’ve yet to see it. She is constantly surrounded by friends and was one of the only two people in this mansion who made any attempt to get to know me. She is a wonderful woman, capable of more than any of you people have seen. I cannot fathom how she ever could’ve loved you when you obviously know so little about who she is.”

Ric’s temper flared up even more at that. “You don’t know a damn thing about what Logan and I felt for each other,” he growled. “If you think you can just come in here, spend a couple of days where you have a few conversations with her and know all there is to know about her, you’re wrong. There’s a lot more to her than what can be seen on the surface.”

“Maybe you’re the one who needs to realize that.”

“Look, you just stay away from her. She doesn’t need you.”

“That’s Logan decision, not yours.”

“You’ll hurt her.”

Tristan frowned. “I didn’t follow you out here to discuss possible outcomes of a relationship between Logan and myself. I just wanted to warn you, if you let this anger you hold to consume you, it could cloud your judgment when it comes time to fight. You have never faced an evil such as this. You need to be thinking clearly when the time comes, not worrying about who may or may not be trying to woo the woman you once loved into his bed.”

Ric bristled. “Is that what you’re trying to do? Woo Addie into your bed?”

“That is what you’re accusing me of, isn’t it?”

“Keep away from her. She’s been through enough without having you break her heart someday.”

“Maybe someone should have given you the same advice.”

Ric had nothing to say in response.

*** *** ***

Bolts of energy crackled in the sky. The ground quaked. Enemy soldiers approached from every angle. Hard to believed that in reality, the room was almost completely empty, save for the people currently fighting the all-too-real holographic simulations.

Tristan had to admit, he liked the Danger Room.

He watched on from the control room as Wildcat lead the action, making the quick decisions of an old pro, not a young woman giving leadership a try for the first time. A smile threatened to tug at the corners of Tristan’s mouth. He had made a wise choice.

Tristan used the controls to throw another obstacle into the mix—the being the X-Men called Apocalypse. He had gone through the files on every villain the X-Men—past and present—had ever faced, and decided that Apocalypse was the one most similar to the Dark One.

Wildcat didn’t even flinch as she accommodated her battle plan to fit with the team’s new obstacle. Tristan watched happily for a few moments until he noticed something that made him scowl down at the action. Renegade began to argue with Wildcat, and she became distracted. Apocalypse attacked, firing an energy blast that knocked Wildcat across the room and against the wall. Tristan knew in a real battle, it could’ve very easily been a killing blow.

He turned off the simulation and stormed down into the Danger Room. “Renegade!” he yelled. “What the hell was that?!”

All the X-Men froze. Wildcat slowly pulled herself up from the crumpled mass she'd formed by the wall. Kacie turned to Marie and whispered. "Did Tristan just curse?"

Marie nodded and whispered back. "Yeah…I'm frightened."

Renegade wheeled around to face Tristan, his eyes flashing. "She made a bad command decision. Don't try to blame this on me."

"Hard not to, seeing as Logan was doing just fine before you started yelling at her," Tristan snapped.

Logan walked over to them, her wounds already all but healed. She put her hand on Tristan's shoulder. "Please, don't do this," she said softly to him.

Renegade felt sick at the sight of her touching Tristan and the gentle tone in her voice. He'd only heard her talk to one other man that way—him. "You don't have to worry about me anymore, Tristan," Ric said. "I'm not going to stick around long enough to see your battle with the cosmic forces of evil."

"What are you talking about?" Tristan asked.

"I'm leaving," Ric said. "I'm sick of being here and always having to listen to how I should run my life. None of you people can just mind your own damn business." He looked directly at Logan. "And I'm sick of watching you flaunt with the herald of impending doom over there how quickly you got over what we had."

"I'm not the one who walked away from what we had, Ric."

"See ya around, Adanya."

Renegade walked out of the Danger Room, leaving behind him a stunned team of X-Men.

*** *** ***

Later that afternoon, Marie went upstairs to find Ric finishing up packing his things. "Ric?"

"I'm not in the mood to listen to any of your crap, Raven."

"Ric, please don't use my first name. You know I don't like that."

"Just go away, Marie."

"Don't leave. I don't want to be here without you."

Ric wheeled around, ready to get her out of his room in anyway he saw fit, but he melted as soon as he saw she was crying. "Marie…"

"Please, Ric. I need my big brother."

Ric pulled her over to him, hugging her tightly. "I know, Kiddo. And I'm not going to stay away from you for good. I just need to get out of the mansion. It's suffocating me. I know why Logan left when I first ended things now. This can get to be too much for a person…"

Marie pulled away. "Are you going to stay with Mom and Dad?" she asked.

Ric shook his head. "Probably not."

"But where will you go? You're only eighteen—you haven't even finished high school yet!"

Ric gave his sister a crooked grin. "I'll be all right, Marie. Don't worry about me."

"But I have to worry about you. We're on our own here, Ric—we've got to look out for each other."

"I know. And like I said, I won't be gone forever. I just need some time."

"We're going to need you when this 'Dark One' gets here. You're one of the most powerful mutants on the team."

"I'd only slow you guys down in battle. Tristan's right about that."

Marie frowned. "If you know he's right, why do you keep arguing about it?"

"I'm a guy—that's what we do."

"So I've noticed."

Ric leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He then grabbed his bag. "I'll be in touch," he said, walking out of the room.

"You better be," Marie replied, her voice full of tears.

Ric winked.

*** *** ***

Craig sat on the couch, watching Logan as she watched Ric. She was standing alone at the window, and Craig could tell she was hurting as she silently observed a man she'd loved so deeply drive away from the mansion towards a destination no one was sure of—not even Ric himself. Craig wanted to somehow comfort his younger sister, but he didn't know what he could do, or if she would even accept his aid. Once Ric's car pulled away, Logan walked upstairs without even as much as glancing in Craig's direction.

A few moments later, Briana walked into the room. She frowned at the look on Craig's face. "What's wrong, Darling?"

"Logan," Craig replied. "She just watched Ric leave and she was obviously upset."

"Well, I don't know your sister very well—and neither do you, if you want to get technical about it—but, she seemed to be leaning more towards Tristan in the Danger Room today."

"I know, but the way she was watching Ric leave—I don't know, is it even possible for someone to be in love with two people at the same time?"

Briana winced as Craig unknowingly spoke the same words that had been plaguing her thoughts since two nights ago when they'd made love. "Yes, I think it is," she replied. "Although in the end, one of those two people always gets hurt."

"What about the person torn between them—what about Logan?" Craig asked. He was feeling an emotion that was somewhat foreign to him, and he decided that it could only be brotherly concern.

Briana felt a pang of empathy towards Logan and her eyes became sad. "There is probably no way for her to avoid heartache either," Briana said. "For no matter who she is with when all is said and done, she's lost a man she loved."

"You sound almost like you're talking from experience," Craig told her.

Briana forced a smile. "Call it a woman's intuition."

*** *** ***

"Logan?"

Logan cursed leaving her door unlocked. "Don't people knock on your home planet?" she asked without turning around to look at him.

"I heard you crying and thought maybe you were distressed and might want company," Tristan said.

"Okay, I'm not crying or distressed, and even if I was, I wouldn't want any company."

"Oh, of course. I forgot. You hide behind this 'loner' persona you have built for yourself when you do not want people to see who you really are."

Logan spun around, the tear streaks clear on her face. "You're one to talk, Dark Angel. After all, aren't you the one who told me you just forget all the pains of your past in order to move on with the future, or whatever that crap was you were going on about when you first got here."

"I don't understand you, Logan," Tristan said. "You tell me it is wrong to hide my emotions, and yet you will not face your own."

"I face my emotions just fine! It's Ric who runs from everything that could ever mean anything to him."

"And by that you mean he runs from you?"

Logan threw her arms in frustration. "God, why do you have to do that?! You're the last person I want to discuss my past relationships with."

"And why would that be? What about me makes you wary to discuss Ric?"

Logan paused at that question. Was he smirking? "Because I'm interested in you, all right? From the moment you came here I've been attracted to you, but the whole thing confuses me because I just broke up with Ric and I haven't exactly killed every warm feeling I ever had for him."

"I am attracted to you as well, while at the same time I have not been able to put aside my feelings for Maritheza."

"So where does that leave us?"

"I do not know."

Logan and Tristan stared at each other for a moment until she finally looked away and said, "I think you should go."

Tristan nodded and stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

*** *** ***

Tristan sat alone in his room wondering what exactly had possessed him to bring the X-Men into this. True, he'd heard in the legends that they were a great fighting force, but his arrival here had disproved that. They were barely more than children, and while they had exhibited above-average combat training for people their age, it didn't take away from the fact that they were too young and inexperienced to face someone like The Dark One. They could get hurt.

Logan could get hurt.

The thought of her being harmed or worse—dying the way Maritheza had—made Tristan shutter. As Tristan had admitted to Logan he was attracted to her, but it was the strength of the attraction that frightened him. It wasn't just her beauty or her strength as a warrior, but everything about her. She was amazing, and his quest was going to kill her the same way it had Maritheza.

Falling for a woman was the last thing Tristan had wanted to do when he'd come to Earth, yet here he was, all but in love with Logan. If she'd asked him to stay instead of leave… The Dark Angel hung his head in his hands. He couldn't do this. In a way, he knew Ric had been right when he said he'd only hurt Logan in the end. Tristan was certain that by staying he'd be leading her—and all her friends—straight towards death.

He couldn't allow that to happen. Tristan already watched the Dark One slaughter those he cared about once. It wouldn't happen again. He'd asked too much of the X-Men when he'd told them to help him fight this battle—it wasn't theirs to fight. Tristan walked out of the room and towards the front door of the mansion.

The Dark Angel would fight his battle alone.

*** *** ***

Briana watched as Craig sat in the living room, talking with Jono and Nathan. He was into the conversation, and she knew he wouldn't notice if she quietly slipped away. She went upstairs and picked up the phone dialing the number from memory.

"'Ello?"

"It's Briana."

"Briana? Where the bloody 'ell are you? You were supposed to get back last week."

"I'm sorry, Howard. There's a problem here. I'm staying longer."

"We 'ave a wedding to plan, luv."

"I'll get home as soon as I can."

"Bri, baby, are you up here?"

Briana froze as she heard Craig coming up the stairs. She'd thought he would be downstairs longer. "Howard, I have to go."

"Briana…wait, 'ow long are you…"

"Good bye, Howard. I'll call you back later. Love you."

"Briana…"

"Bye, Howard."

Briana hung up the telephone at the same time as Craig walked in the room. "Baby, what are you doing up here?" he asked. "Were you on the phone?"

"Uh, yeah. I called my mum."

"Oh. You just sort of snuck out. I didn't know you'd left."

"Sorry, darling. You seemed to be involved in your conversation—I didn't want to bother you."

Craig sat down and pulled Briana over into his lap. "You could never bother me, baby."

Briana blushed a little and then pulled away some. "Craig, you know when this is all over I have to go back to England."

Craig frowned. "I know, but it doesn't mean we have to never see each other. I mean, I know it's a lot of distance, but…"

"There's no point in trying to keep anything going when we're that far away," Briana said.

"I'm not saying we should have a serious relationship, I'm just saying I don't want you out of my life completely. I…I like you a lot, Briana. You're not like any woman I've ever met."

She stood up. "All men say that."

"I mean it. Look, I understand if you don't want a relationship with that much distance between us, but don't tell me I have to walk out of your life forever. You've already grown to mean too much to me for that."

"Look, Craig, you don't need to make an emotional attachment to me that's…"

"But it's too late for me to prevent that…"

"Listen to me!" Briana yelled, then calmed down. She kneeled so she was eye-level with him still sitting and took his hands in hers. "Please, Craig, you're twenty-five years old. You have a good job, a good life. You're handsome, and I'm sure women are lining up at your door at a chance at you. One of these days, you're going to want to settle down with one of those women and you aren't going to need me holding you back."

"Briana, what are you talking about? I'm not proposing marriage to you or anybody else. I just don't want to lose you completely, that's all."

Briana was suddenly near tears. "But don't you get it, Craig? You can't lose me. You never bloody had me!" She ran out of the room, leaving Craig alone with his confusion.

*** *** ***

After Tristan left, Logan sat in her room, staring out the window. It had begun to rain, and she let the steady rhythm of the drops hitting the panes calm her. She'd almost stopped Tristan when he'd left, told him to stay, to talk to her. With Ric being gone, she felt so alone. It had been bad enough just not having him with her, but now that he wasn't even at the mansion… Tristan could be her chance to love again, and she'd let him walk away.

She'd thought it was for the best a couple of hours ago when he'd first been there, but now she wasn't so sure. Why was she pushing him away? With the way he'd been acting when he'd first come to the mansion, Logan figured that him admitting to being attracted to her was a big deal for him. She'd been the one to ask where it made things stand between them, but ultimately he'd given her the choice. And she'd told him to leave.

Logan pulled her knees up to her chin, slowly rocking back and forth. Had she made the wrong decision? Should she have told Tristan to stay? And even if she had, would she be doing anymore than setting herself up for disappointment? She was sure that once all of this was over, Tristan wouldn't exactly be settling down on Earth.

"Nice track record you're building here, Adanya," she muttered to herself. "One guy that's untouchable and another that comes from a different flamin' galaxy."

Logan wondered if Ric was what stopped her from giving into her feelings for Tristan. She couldn't deny she cared about him, even if the way he'd been acting hurt her, made her angry. But was it pointless to carry any sort of torch for Renegade? He'd made it clear that it was over, even if his jealous behavior suggested otherwise.

Logan's internal monologue came to an abrupt stop when she spotted someone coming out of the mansion. She immediately recognized it as Tristan. "Where is he going in the middle of the night—in the rain?" she wondered aloud.

Logan turned pale as she realized the only thing Tristan could be doing. "No…" she whispered. "God, could he really be such an idiot?"

Without giving it a second thought, she ran from her room, down the stairs, and out of the mansion. She ignored the rain pouring down on her and the chill in the night air. "Tristan!"

Tristan stopped at the sound of Logan calling his name. He'd hoped to avoid anything like this, hoped to get to a place far enough away from the mansion where he could take off without anyone seeing the light from his wings. Slowly, he turned around.

Logan ran up to him, and even soaked with rain, he though she was beautiful. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" she snapped.

Tristan almost smiled at just how, well, her the question was. "I cannot stay here any longer. I was wrong to ask all of you to place yourselves in danger. This is my battle. I cannot place you in harm's way because of something I should be fighting on my own."

"Tristan, really, be reasonable. You and I both know you don't stand a chance against The Dark One by yourself. Besides, we're X-Men—danger is what we do. The X we wear might as well be a friggin' bull's-eye for all the times someone wearing one has been attacked. And everyone in this mansion knew the risks of this job when we took it, yet none of us shied away. Hell, my whole life has been one risk after another, and still I keep taking more. Don't commit suicide just because you're afraid what happened before will happen again. Besides, you said that The Dark One was coming to enslave all of Earth. If you leave now, odds are you'll lose and we'll all die anyway. We're safer if you stay and let us fight by your side."

Tristan looked down at Logan, realizing the sense of her words. Either way, the X-Men were in danger, but with his help maybe they could succeed where those before them had failed. "Logan, I…" He met her eyes and his breath caught. He reached down, cupping her face in his hands then kissing her with a fervor Logan had not known before in her young life. After a moment, he broke away, and before she could say anything he scooped her up and started carrying her inside.

Logan wrapped her arms around his neck and resolved to just see where the night took her.

*** *** ***

Briana hadn't cried in earnest since she was a little girl. Sure, she'd used tears here and there in order to get what she wanted, but it had been years since she'd just curled up by herself and cried. How had things gotten to this point? How had she let flirting get this far?

She remembered being told once that someday she'd meet a man with whom she wouldn't be satisfied with by merely teasing him. She'd laughed it off, never believing that she'd ever have anything but complete control over a situation.

Well, she'd been wrong, and that day had come. Briana Braddock wasn't the person who had control over this situation. Craig Marshall was. All he had to do was look at her, and she melted.

Logically, he wasn't what she wanted. He had money, sure, but he wasn't from the sort of family she told herself she'd marry into. He wasn't even British…

But emotionally, he was the kind of man she'd always craved. His calm, assured presence made her weak in the knees. She didn't want to have power over him the way she had in past relationships. She craved his confidence, his strength.

That was what eventually led her to go back upstairs and beg him to hold her, silently praying he could make her forget who she was, even if it was only for a little while.

*** *** ***

Ric didn't have a clue as to where to go. He didn't want to go home, since he knew his parents would just try to convince him to go back to the mansion, and the mansion was the last place he wanted to be. Every time he saw Addie with Tristan, he couldn't help but kick himself for being such a fool. He loved her, and he'd let her go.

No, he told himself. It wasn't really his fault. He'd done what he had to do. He'd had to leave because he loved her, not because he didn't. He was dangerous to her, not just because of his natural absorption powers, but because of his borrowed magnetic powers as well. He kept telling himself that, hoping maybe it could ease some of the pain.

It didn't.

He ended up in a bar on the wrong side of town, the kind of place that never carded. He was nursing his third beer when a woman approached him.

"Never seen you around before, hon."

"Never been here before."

"You look lonely."

Ric regarded her for a moment. She was obviously a couple of years older than him, her eyes giving it away more so than the lines on her face. "So do you."

The woman laughed. "Most people in bars like this do."

"Then why'd you say it to me?"

She smirked. "It was a line."

"You're trying to pick me up?"

"You sound surprised."

"I just didn't come here looking for love," Ric told her. He slammed back the rest of his drink and motioned for the bartender to bring him another one. "If anything, I'm hiding from it."

"I'm not lookin' for love myself. Just a little lovin'." She gave him a wink and Ric blushed. She frowned. "You seem too innocent for a place like this."

Ric snorted. "Trust me, I'm not exactly innocent." He suppressed a shudder, memories of his life since he'd joined the X-Men flooding to the surface.

The woman stuck out her hand. "Eileen," she said, introducing herself.

"Renegade," Ric replied, taking her hand and giving it a firm shake before pulling away.

"Renegade," Eileen purred, "With a name like that I guess you can't be so innocent, sugar."

"Don't call me sugar," Ric said.

"Why? Does it remind you of someone?"

"Yeah," Ric replied. "My mother."

Eileen laughed. "Then I'll be sure not to call ya that." She reached up and ran her finger across the arm of his sunglasses. "You blind?" she asked.

"No."

"Then why are you wearing your sunglasses in a room this dark?"

"Rare eye condition."

"I don't believe you."

"Suit yourself."

Eileen inched closer to him. "So what color are your eyes?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

Ric faced her, pushing his sunglasses down just far enough to show her his red, glowing eyes. "Happy now?"

Eileen's breath caught in her throat and her face grew flushed. "I don't know if I'm frightened or turned on."

"As long as you don't decide it makes you want to kill me, I'm fine," Ric said.

"Oh I definitely don't want to kill ya, handsome," she said. "Can think of some other things I want to do to you, though."

"Look, I'm sure you're a very nice woman and all…"

"I'm anything but nice."

"Yeah, well, um…" Ric was blushing and stammering, not quite sure what to say. He suddenly thought of how ashamed of him his father would be of what his performance around this woman was doing to the LeBeau family name.

"Let me make you forget her, at least for one night."

"Forget who?"

"The woman that drove you to drink," Eileen said with a smirk, gesturing to Ric's glass.

"Logan's not the kind of woman you just forget," Ric told Eileen. "Ever."

"Then why aren't you with her now?"

"It's a long story. But it basically boils down to fate hating me, and some asshole getting the girl."

"She's with someone else?"

"Yep."

"Tonight?"

"Most likely."

"Then why should you be alone?"

"Self-penance?"

Eileen wrapped her body around his arm. "Pleasure is much better way to fill the void than penance, Renegade."

Ric stiffened at first at Eileen's touch. He'd had the magnetic shield that allowed for skin-to-skin contact for such a short time, and he still wasn't use to this level of closeness. He looked over the woman who was touching him now. The only other woman he'd ever had near him like this before was Logan, and Eileen with her chin-length blonde hair, brown eyes, and tall stature was definitely nothing like Logan.

Still she could touch him, was touching him. He got a mental image of Logan in Tristan's arms, allowing the Dark Angel to love her in a way that Ric never could. Why should he deny himself all touch when it was suddenly available to him, just because he couldn't be with the woman he wanted the most? Logan certainly hadn't let their break up hold her back from anything.

Renegade swallowed the rest of his drink and stood up. "Come on, Eileen, let's get out of here."

Eileen was more than happy to oblige.

*** *** ***

Logan snuggled up closer to Tristan, who was holding her in his arms, stroking her hair and whispering soft words into her ear. Logan gave a deep sigh. "That was…amazing."

Tristan kissed her forehead. "It was."

Logan pulled away a bit and propped herself up on her elbow. She regarded him for a moment, a slight frown on her face.

Tristan reached up and pushed her hair behind her ear, mesmerized by how beautiful she looked, her creamy skin bathed in pale moonlight. "What's wrong, precious one?" he asked.

Logan looked down. "Do I…do I really mean anything to you, Tristan?"

Tristan reached out and gently moved her back into his arms. "You mean everything to me, Logan."

"I thought your destiny meant everything to you."

Tristan sighed. "Logan, please, don't make me choose between my life's work and my love for you."

"You love me?"

"I've been falling in love with you since I met you. It's hard for me to admit, especially after Maritheza, but it's the truth. Do you think I would've taken you to bed with me if I didn't?"

"Men on this planet often do."

"I never would."

Neither of them said anything for a while, but Logan could tell something was bothering Tristan. "What's wrong?" she asked finally.

"I am afraid of losing you."

Logan was startled by his blunt response. "Why?"

"Nothing's certain right now. I fall more in love with you with each passing day, but in the end, will that be enough? It wasn't enough to keep Mari with me…"

"Stop comparing us to what you had with her," Logan said. "I'm not going to die, Tristan. Face it, bub, you're stuck with me."

Logan thought she saw him smile a little at that. He pressed his lips against her temple. "I've told you I love you," he said between kisses, "Yet I haven't heard those words come from your mouth."

Logan sighed. "I love you, Tristan."

Tristan held her tightly, not letting go until the morning came.

*** *** ***

Eileen was busying making breakfast, as Ric sat in her kitchen, watching her. "You really don't have to bother with all this," he said.

She walked over and kissed him on the cheek. "Sure I do, handsome. Gotta show my appreciation for last night. Something can definitely be said for the stamina of the youth…"

"So tell me about Logan," Eileen said as she went back over to the stove to scramble the eggs.

Ric looked up with a start. "How did you know her name?"

"You said it in the bar," Eileen explained. "And in your sleep."

Ric blushed a little. "I did?"

"Don't worry about it. Not like I was expecting anything more than a night out of this anyway."

"I don't really want to talk about Logan."

Eileen fixed a plate and set it in front of Ric. "But I think you need to. It's obvious that whatever happened between the two of you is weighing on you now."

"What are you, a shrink?" Ric asked.

Eileen laughed. "Actually, yes."

Ric's eyes grew wide. "You are? What in the world were you doing in a place like that bar then?"

"Hey, psychiatrists need love, too. Basically, I've been divorced for about a year, and I'm sick of the 'respectable' dating scene." She reached across the table and rubbed her hand against his lightly-stubbled cheek. "I wanted a man like you, Renegade."

"Glad I wasn't a disappointment," he muttered.

"You'd never done that before, had you?" Eileen asked.

Ric turned a deep crimson. "Could we maybe talk about something else?"

"Sure. How about Logan?"

Ric sighed. "You don't give up, do you?"

"Nope."

"There isn't much to tell. Basically, we had problems, and I had to end it for her own good."

"For her own good?"

"Yeah."

"Did she think it was good for her?"

"It doesn't matter. I know it was. And now Tristan can give her what I never could."

"You're jealous."

"You get paid to make observations like that?"

"Yes. And paid well at that."

Ric gave her a lopsided grin. "Then I'd have to say you're overcharging your patients."

Eileen laughed. "And I probably wouldn't argue with that claim. So this Tristan guy? He's with Logan now?"

"Most likely."

"Most likely?"

"Well, I don't know for a fact, but they seemed to be getting pretty close when I left."

"If you don't know for a fact, then there's still a chance you could get her back."

Ric sighed. "I told you, I'd hurt her."

"Love isn't all moonlight and roses, Renegade. The relationships worth keeping are the ones you have to work for. If it comes too easily, then odds are, it isn't real."

"But, I…"

Eileen cut him off. "Take it from someone who's older—who's been there. If you really love her as much as you seem to, then it'll work out. You're just going to have to work at it."

"You don't even know what our problem is."

"I don't have to." Eileen gave him a wry grin. "Haven't you ever heard the phrase, 'true love conquers all?'"

"I don't know about that."

"Good."

"What?"

"It's good that you don't know. You shouldn't know all the answers when it comes to love. Takes all the fun out or it. Now just go to Logan. Tell her you love her. If you don't want Tristan having her, then take her for yourself. Fight for the woman you love."

"I'm not sure…"

"Have you not been listening to a word I've said? Get up, get dressed, and get the woman you love. You'll be glad you did."

Ric knew Eileen was right. He stood up. "Thank you—for everything."

Eileen grinned. "It was my pleasure."

*** *** ***

"Logan, where have you been all morning? Marie and I have been looking all over for you!"

"Um, hello to you too, Kacie."

"You didn't go hide out in the woods again did you?"

"I have never gone out and hidden in the woods."

"Whatever you say, Addie…"

Logan glared at her blonde friend. "Trust me, I was not hiding in the woods. Or doing any other activity that involves sulking."

Kacie sobered for a moment, something that was rare for her.  "Addie, are you sure you okay, really? I mean with everything…"

"I slept with Tristan," Logan blurted out.

Kacie stared at her in shock. "You what?"

"I slept with Tristan."

"Tristan—like Dark Angel Tristan?"

Addie rolled her eyes. "No, like one of the five million other Tristans I know—of course Dark Angel Tristan!"

"Oh my God, Addie, this is huge!" Kacie exclaimed. "What's this going to mean for you and Ric?"

"What's what going to mean for Addie and Ric?" Marie asked, walking up.

"She slept with Tristan!" Kacie said, pointing at Logan.

"You slept with Tristan!" Marie yelled.

"Shh!" Logan said. "Keep it down, all right! I'd rather the whole mansion didn't know about my love life. Although this being the X-Men, that's probably going to be a losing battle, but still. And as for what it means for Ric and me, well, that's a moot point since Ric ended it and obviously isn't interested in starting it up again."

"Um, Addie, I wouldn't be so sure of that…" Kacie said.

"What do you mean?" Logan asked.

"Ric came back," Marie explained. "That's why Kacie and I were looking for you."

"Yeah, and Billy told me that Ric told him that the main reason he came back is he wants to try to patch things up with you," Kacie said. "He's still in love with you."

Logan made a sound that somehow managed to be a cross between a sigh and a growl. "Why does he have such terrible timing?"

"So you're going to get back with him, right?" Kacie said.

"Yeah, I mean, Tristan's a great guy and all, but how much potential does that relationship have?" Marie said. "He doesn't even live in the same galaxy as you."

"I'm not getting back with Ric."

Marie and Kacie both stared at Logan in shock. "What?" Marie asked. "Why?"

"Look, I know a relationship with Tristan is not the most practical thing to want, but I don't care. Ric hurt me, and I'm not over that. I can't just run back into his arms and set myself up for heartache all over again."

"Ric's not going to hurt you again," Marie said. "He just made a mistake before"

"Marie, I know he's your brother, and you want to defend him, but I can't honestly convince myself that getting back together with him is the right thing to do."

"Logan…" Kacie began.

"This is my life, and I'm with Tristan now," Logan said. "Deal with it."

"Addie?"

Addie knew that voice, and she didn't want to look up, to see his face and run the risk of melting. She braced herself, and turned around, trying to avoid staring into Ric's eyes. "Hello."

"We need to talk," Ric said.

"We'll just be, uh…" Marie started.

"Not spying on you guys from the hallway," Kacie finished, running outside of the room with Marie.

Logan rolled her eyes and then turned her attention back to Ric. She willed herself to stay strong, concentrating on what she was starting with Tristan. She didn't need Ric, even if she couldn't shake the part of her that said he was her soulmate. "So what do you think we need to talk about?"

"Us."

"There is no 'us,' Ric." Logan noticed her words came out more bitter than she had meant for them to.

"Addie, I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I've had some time to think, and now I realize that I never should have let you go."

"It's too late for that, Ric."

"Addie, please—it can't be too late. I love you."

"Logan, is everything all right?"

Logan looked up to see Tristan in the doorway. She smiled and walked over to him, taking his hand. "Ric was just saying hello."

Tristan looked between the two of the incredulously. "Right. So are you ready, Logan?"

"Yeah. Go wait for me in the Danger Room. I'll be right there." She stood up on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. Tristan nodded and left.

"Why are you meeting him in the Danger Room?" Ric asked, frowning.

"Tristan wants to train with me one on one a little bit to prepare me for helping him lead the X-Men into battle," Logan explained.

"Yeah, I'll bet he wants to train you 'one on one,'" Ric muttered.

"Oh don't worry, Ric," Logan said. "He's already done that." She winked and left Ric alone and fuming.

*** *** ***

Tristan was standing in the Danger Room when Logan came in, staring into nothingness. "Tristan?" she called softly. He didn't respond. "Tristan!"

Tristan turned around slowly, his dark gaze unnerving Logan slightly. "Something wrong?"

"Renegade wants you back."

Logan had hoped that Tristan wouldn't want to have this conversation, but she knew that wouldn't have been possible. "That's what he says."

"If you still love him, Logan, I don't want to be what prevents the two of you from getting back together," Tristan said.

Logan moved closer to him, only a couple of feet separating them now. "Would you rather me back out of this now?"

"I want you to be happy."

"Tristan," Logan said softly, taking hold of his hand, "I did care for Ric, but that's over. You're not what's keeping us apart."

Tristan lightly squeezed her hand. "I don't what to be something you regret."

"You're not, I promise. I do love you, and I don't regret what's been happening between us. Don't worry about Ric. I'm not going back to him."

"Do you still love him?"

Logan looked away. "No."

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you that do not love him."

"You're going to have to trust me, Tristan. Otherwise, this isn't going to work."

"Then maybe it's not going to work."

Logan looked up at him, her face pale. "Please, don't say that. I know you love me, and you want to be with me. Don't push me away like this, especially because of Ric. I promise you, it's over between us. Just let me have the chance to prove to you how much I care about you."

"I can't make any promises that in the end I'll stay with you, Logan. If my destiny calls me elsewhere, then I'll have to go. Ric could offer you more than that. Do you still want me?"

"Yes, Tristan, yes. I want you—even if it's only for a day, then that day will be the most wonderful in my life."

Tristan crushed Logan to him, kissing her with the same passion he'd showed her the night before. "I just don't want to lose you to him, Logan," he said when he pulled away.

"I promise you won't."

Tristan nodded. "Then I believe we have a training session scheduled."

*** *** ***

Marie sat in the den, sulking. "Hey, what's up?" Kacie asked as she came in. "You're not still upset about Logan turning down your brother are you?"

Marie sighed. "It's more than that, Drake," she said. "I guess I was sort of hoping Logan would call it off with Tristan because, well, because I…I like him."

"You like Tristan?"

"Yeah. I have since the beginning, but he's only had eyes for Logan. I know it's selfish to want them apart, but I really like him."

Kacie sat down on the couch beside Marie. "Look, I know Tristan's attractive and all, but there are two things wrong here. First and foremost, he's with Logan, and they seem pretty close. Secondly, you're only barely fourteen."

"Yeah, and Logan's not exactly much older."

"Logan's been through more than the rest of this team combined," Kacie said. "She doesn't exactly have the attitude of a normal sixteen year old."

"Logan is just as much a kid as I am—as both of us are!" Marie exclaimed. "And if I'm old enough to risk my life for the X-Men, aren't I old enough to care about someone the way I do for Tristan?"

Kacie sighed. "Marie, I didn't say you weren't old enough to care for Tristan, I just said that you're fourteen and he's, well, I don't know how old he is…"

"But wouldn't Logan be too young for him, too?"

"Probably," Kacie said with a smirk. "I'm not quite sure what I think about their relationship myself, but I know better than to stand between Logan and what she wants."

"I just feel so alone," Marie said. "I mean, I see you with Billy, Rebecca with Twister, Rachel with Warren, Angie with Nathan, Briana with Craig, and now Logan with Tristan. I'm the only single girl in this whole mansion!"

"You'll find someone, Marie," Kacie said. "Trust me, you have plenty of time. No need to rush it."

"I'm not saying I want to find the love of my life before I get out of the ninth grade or anything like that," Marie said. "I just want a boyfriend. I mean, people always tell me I'm pretty and everything, and yet I've never even had a real date."

"Damien liked you," Kacie pointed out.

Marie rolled her eyes. "I said I was lonely, not desperate."

Kacie giggled. "Damien wasn't that bad."

"Easy for you to say. He wasn't stalking you."

"Stalking? Don't you think that's going a bit over the edge?"

Marie crossed her arms. "No."

"Well, give it a little more time, and I promise you you'll find a boyfriend better than Damien."

Marie gave Kacie a small grin. "Can I have yours?"

"No way!" Kacie exclaimed. "I'm not giving him up! That man is way to talented to get rid of."

"Talented? Care to elaborate on that?" Marie asked.

Kacie ruffled Marie's hair. "I'll tell you when your older."

Marie glared at Kacie. "Ah, yes, you and your long sixteen years does make you sooo much wiser and more knowledgeable than me."

"I'll have you know that it's a proven fact that you learn over half of everything you ever need to know in the two years between fourteen and sixteen."

Marie rolled her eyes. "Riiight."

Kacie stood up. "Hey, I checked the roster and we're not due in the Danger Room for another hour and a half. What do you say we go downstairs and get some ice cream? I'm pretty sure there's some Death by Chocolate left."

Marie jumped up from the couch, her previous pouting over Tristan and Logan completely forgotten at the mention of a food with a high sugar content. "Lead the way, Oh Frozen One."

*** *** ***

"You know, you don't actually have to stay here," Craig said to Briana as she sat on the edge of the bed after one of Tristan's training sessions, rubbing her sore neck.

"Neither do you," she replied.

"I know, but I'm not in nearly as much pain as you appear to be in right now," Craig pointed out.

"Well, I don't have a healing factor. And if you didn't have one you probably wouldn't have made it through this week," Briana retorted.

Craig smiled as he sat down beside her, taking her hands of her neck and massaging it himself. "You're cute when you're annoyed," he said.

"You're not so cute when you're annoying," Briana replied, relaxing into his touch.

"I'm always cute, and you know it."

"That's a matter of opinion."

"Yeah, and I happen to know for a fact that it's your opinion."

Briana moved from under Craig's hands and turned to face him. "You know I care about you, don't you?" she said.

"Of course I know that," Craig replied. "And I'm crazy about you, Bri."

"I haven't been honest with you, Craig," Briana said suddenly, her words coming out in a rush.

Craig frowned, pulling away from her slightly. "About what?"

Briana took a deep breath, dreading what she was about to say, but knowing she had to say it. She'd lied to Craig long enough, and although that normally wouldn't have bothered her,  with him, it was eating her up inside. "I'm engaged." Craig looked at her blankly, so she added. "I have a fiancé—back in London. His name's Howard Finningly."

Craig's expression was unreadable at first, but soon signs of anger began to show. "You're engaged?!"

Briana wanted to cry but forced back the tears. "Yes."

Craig stood up, carefully trying to reign in his temper. "So this was, what, you having a little fun during your vacation? Was I no more than someone to keep your bed warm while Howard was an ocean away? I can't believe I thought maybe you were more than everyone else said you were, thought maybe I was seeing something they didn't. You played me for a fool, Briana."

"Craig, I'm sorry," Briana said, her voice near pleading. "I do care about you—I meant that every time I said it. And I wasn't just toying with you. Okay, maybe I was at first, but not for long. This was real to me, Craig!"

Craig shook his head. "No. How can I trust you when you say anything between us was real. None of it was real. Every word that you said, every time we touched, it was all tainted with a lie."

Craig started to walk out of the room, but Briana ran to him, grabbing his arm. He spun around, and without thinking his bone claws came from his hands, staring Briana in the face. She gasped and stumbled back, the fear apparent on his face. Craig looked down at his claws for a moment, then retracted them, visibly shaken by what he had done. He glanced at Briana one more time before walking out of the room.

No sooner had Craig gone out the door, than did a series of alarms start to go off in the mansion. Kacie Drake ran by him. "Hey, what's going on?" he shouted out to her.

"The Dark One's here!" Kacie yelled. "He just landed in some mountains somewhere. Tristan wants us to try to stop him before he has the chance to attack any major cities. Go down and change into your uniform and meet us at the Blackbird."

Kacie ran off, and Craig turned around to see Briana walk out of the room, her face puffy from crying. "What's happening?" she asked, doing her best to look composed.

"The hyper blonde one just said the Dark One's here and to get downstairs and suit up."

Briana nodded. "Then I guess we better get ready then," she said. "Craig, when this is over I want to talk to you more."

"There's nothing to talk about," Craig replied before jogging off to prepare for the upcoming battle.

*** *** ***

The X-Men piled into the Blackbird, heading for the coordinates that Tristan had given them.

"How are you sure this is where the Dark One is located?" Rebecca asked as they headed out of the hangar.

"I know," Tristan said, his tone making it clear that the subject was not open for debate.

Tristan was tense, looking as if he was ready to fight at any moment. Logan leaned up and rubbed his shoulders. "It's going to be fine," she whispered in his ear.

Tristan turned around to look at her, taking her hand in his. "I'm so afraid I'm going to lose you," he said.

"I promised you that you wouldn't lose me, Tristan, and I intend to keep my word on that," Logan told him with a small smile.

Tristan kissed her on the top of her head, making Logan blush a little.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Ric muttered to Billy.

Billy patted him on the shoulder. "I feel for you man, I really do."

"She could do better," Ric said, his voice barely audible. Logan looked over at him and glared. "Right, sensitive hearing," he mumbled.

Billy chuckled.

They made the rest of the trip in silence, all of the X-Men contemplating what would take place in the upcoming battle. They knew they were facing something much stronger than the Brotherhood, and even with the training Tristan had given them, they weren't sure if it would be enough.

"He's here," Tristan said suddenly as they approached the place where Tristan had said the Dark One had landed. "I can feel him."

"Where do you want me to land this thing?" Cable asked from the pilot's seat.

"Same place I indicated with the coordinates earlier," Tristan said. "It should still be the best place to launch our attack."

Cable nodded and guided the Blackbird down. Once they were on solid ground, the X-Men filed off the plane one by one. "I can sense evil here," Kacie said quietly as she stepped off the Blackbird.

Rachel nodded from beside her. "Me, too."

Tristan put his hand on Logan's shoulder. "Are you going to be all right?" he asked her.

Logan nodded. "I'm fine."

"I love you," Tristan said.

"You say that like it's the last time you'll ever say it to me."

"It could be."

Logan turned around and looked up into his eyes. "I love you. And this won't be the last time I ever say that to you. We're going to get through this."

Ric cleared his throat. "I hate to break the happy couple moment, but don't we have a battle to fight?"

Logan gave him a dirty look, then took Tristan's hand. "Where now?" she asked him.

"He knows we're here," Tristan replied.

Almost as soon as the words were out of Tristan's mouth, the ground under the X-Men's feet begin to tremble. Maniacal laughter rumbled through the sky like thunder. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that's the Dark One," Marie said.

The X-Men all fell into battle stance, ready to defend the Earth with their lives if necessary. A dark fog began to fill the sky, slowly concentrating itself in one place until it took the vague form of a man.

"You have brought new warriors to face me, my son," the figure boomed. "I will destroy them as I did the others."

The X-Men gasped in shock at what the Dark One had just said. Tristan was his son? Wildcat turned to the Dark Angel and whispered. "He's your father?"

The Dark Angel nodded. "That is why it is my duty to destroy him, Logan. Destiny allowed me to be born for that purpose."

Watching the brief interaction between Tristan and Logan, the Dark One's shadowy mouth curved up in a cruel parody of a smile. "I see you have fallen for another woman, my son. And I would've thought that you would've learned your lesson when I killed the one before."

"I will not let you hurt her, Father," the Dark Angel growled.

"I shall see about that." The Dark One raised his arms and suddenly the dark fog that had formed him earlier spread out, molding itself into large, bat-like creatures. One of them flew at Wildcat, but before it had a chance to get to her, Canis sprung forth, his bone claws extended from his hands. He knocked the creature down and grabbed Wildcat, rolling with her out of the way.

Wildcat looked at him with surprise. "I had no idea you had instincts like that," she said.

"Must be genetic," Canis muttered, standing up. "C'mon, little sister, looks like we have a battle to fight."

Wildcat turned back to where the other X-Men were and noticed that they were engaged in a battle with the creatures that the Dark One had created. Wildcat unsheathed her claws and snarled.

She was more than ready for a fight.

*** *** ***

Wildcat and the Dark Angel were both shouting out orders as the X-Men struggled to fight the creatures the Dark One had created. Cable was impressed at how easily Wildcat fell into the role of leader, her ease in the position making her seem like the daughter of anyone but Wolverine.

Cable looked to his left and saw a creature approaching Shadow Stalker, who was already busy fighting two more of the things. Cable lowered his plasma rifle and fired, picking off first the one behind Shadow Stalker, and then the other two. Shadow Stalker looked surprised, then saw Cable standing there and ran over to him.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Cable said. "Your sister would kill me if I let anything happen to you."

"And your sister wouldn't be to happy, either, Nate," Phoenix said, approaching the two men. One of the creatures flew at the trio. Cable started to shoot it, but before he got the chance, Phoenix hit it with a psi-bolt. Three more flew towards them, and Phoenix struck them, too, before they even had the chance to touch the ground.

Cable raised an eyebrow. "Not bad for a kid," he teased.

Phoenix rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks."

Shadow Stalker watched the surrounding battle for a moment. "How many of these things are there?" he asked.

"Seems almost like there are more of these things than when we started," Phoenix said. Her eyes grew wide as she watched one of them split into two. "Oh God, they're multiplying!"

Cable sighed, a sound betraying his status as an old, warn warrior.  "I hate to say this, but it isn't looking good," he said.

Phoenix's mouth was set with a grim determination. "Then we're going to have to so what we do best—beat the odds."

*** *** ***

Charger stared the creature in the eyes as it backed her up against the side of a mountain. As soon as her back was pressed against the rock, it snarled and lunged at her. Charger just grinned, falling to the ground and rolling under the creature. She immediately grabbed a large rock from the ground, charging it and throwing it at the creature as soon as it turned around to fight her again. The creature howled in pain, and Charger grabbed a collapsible bo from her utility belt, opening it to full length with a snap of her wrist. She swung the bo with unparalleled grace, knocking the creature to an unconscious heap on the ground.

"Well doesn't someone look like her father," Charger heard a voice say behind her.

"Renegade!" she exclaimed, turning around. She pushed a strand of reddish-brown hair from her face. "How's the rest of the team fairing?"

A bat creature swooped down and Renegade hit it with a magnetic pulse, leaving it twitching on the ground below his feet. "I'm not sure. We keep knocking these things down, but it seems like they just keep coming."

"I've noticed that," Charger said, knocking one out of the sky with her bo. "It's like for everyone we kill, two more show up.

A creature swooped down between the two of them, but before it could do anything, it suddenly froze and fell to the hard, rocky ground, shattering into a million tiny pieces. Charger turned to the direction where the ice blast had come. "Not bad, Ice Princess!" she shouted.

"That's Ice Queen!" she shouted back, taking out another bat creature.

Charger looked up to see Twister and Rainmaker combine their powers to hit a swarm of the creatures with a wind blast, knocking them off the side of the mountain they were on. "Well, that's impressive," Charger muttered.

Still, more of the creatures kept coming. Wildcat was working hard, doing her best to lead the team and to allow the X-Men to keep a handle on the situation. And even though Renegade hated to admit it, she was doing a good job.

But it wasn't enough. The creatures kept coming, and it wasn't too long until the X-Men started to tire.

Things were looking grim.

*** *** ***

The Dark One stood, watching the battle and laughing. He'd defeat these warriors as easily as he had the ones his son had presented to him before. He watched the young woman that he knew the Dark Angel had taken as a lover and smiled cruelly, remembering his son's devastation when Maritheza had been murdered. The Dark One knew it had been difficult for the Dark Angel to recover from her death, and he knew that his son may not be able to handle losing another lover the same way.

The Dark One's smile grew. He waited until he saw the Dark Angel join the woman, begin fighting by her side. It was then that the Dark One flew into the battle and grabbed her, and pulled her into his darkness.

*** *** ***

It happened quickly, before the Dark Angel had a chance to stop it. It was just like it had been before, with the Dark One ripping the woman he loved from him, and pulling her inside his shadowy essence.

Tristan could hear Logan's screams, and his whole world shattered around him. He was losing her the way he had Maritheza. He could hear that from somewhere else on the battlefield, Renegade was calling Logan's name, trying desperately to get to her, but was stopped by the mass of creatures that were attacking him, holding him back.

Suddenly, the Dark One shot forth a burst of smoke, and Logan fell from it, landing at Tristan's feet. The bat creatures became black fog once again and went to join the Dark One who laughed as he grew larger. The ground trembled and rocks began to fall from the side of the mountains. The X-Men were unable to keep their balance, and Captain Britain cried out as a large stone fell and hit her leg.

Tristan fell to his knees beside Logan, and grabbed her, clutching her lifeless body to his chest. He ignored everything that was happening around him, only able to focus on the woman he was holding in his arms. The knowledge that it was happening to him all over again and that he'd lost Logan was more than the Dark Angel could handle, and tears began to fall from his eyes.

Renegade watched the scene from where he lay, using his body to protect his sister from the falling rocks. He hated the Dark Angel more in that moment that he had before, knowing in his heart that Logan was dead, and that if she had been with him instead of Tristan, she'd still be alive.

The Dark One hovered beside the Dark Angel and Logan. "She's dead because of you," he taunted his son. "And so is the other one—what was her name? Oh yes, Maritheza—your precious little Mari. You killed them both, my son, killed them with your foolishness. Did you actually believe that they would be able to live as soon as you took them as your lovers? I promised you when you were still a boy that I would kill everyone you ever loved, just like I did your mother. It just keeps happening to you, doesn't it, my boy? Makes you wish I could kill you doesn't it? Or maybe that you could kill yourself? I can offer you the next best thing. Join with me and you'll be dead inside. You'll no longer even care about the death of the woman you hold in your arms right now."

Suddenly, Wildcat's eyes flew open and she leapt at the Dark One, her claws burying in his phantom chest. He started to fight her, started to push her off of him, but the adamantium bonded to her claws made him feel something that he never had before—pain.

"Think you spoke a little too soon about me bein' dead, bub," Wildcat growled. "Guess I forgot to mention that I heal real fast."

Wildcat twisted her claws in deeper, and the Dark One made a horrible screeching sound. "How…how are you hurting me?" he asked. "No one has ever hurt me before!"

"First time for everything," Wildcat said flippantly.

The ghostly figure of the Dark One began to tremor, and soon, he started to collapse in on himself. When he became as small as area where Wildcat's claws were embedded, the Dark One exploded, knocking anyone who had managed to get to their feet back down to the ground.

Following the explosion was an eerie silence, and then everything was normal again.

*** *** ***

Tristan got to his feet and ran to Logan, pulling her up into his arms. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Logan winced in pain. "I've been better. Is he gone?"

"He's not on Earth anymore," Tristan replied. "But I don't think he's gone for good. I'm not sure though. I can't sense him anymore, but I don't feel like he's been completely destroyed either." He looked at Logan lovingly, brushing her hair from her eyes. "You hurt him, Logan. No one's ever been able to do that before."

Logan gave him a weak smile. "I knew these claws would come in handy as something other than a kitchen appliance someday."

Tristan just smiled and held her to his chest, careful not to put her in any further pain by squeezing too tight. Somehow, Logan had lived, and he'd never been more happy in his life.

Briana attempted to stand, but winced in pain, falling back down. Craig ran up to her and helped her up, letting her use him for support. "Anything broken?" he asked.

"I think my leg is," she replied. "It hurts, and I can't move it."

"C'mon, I'll get you to the bed on the Blackbird, and Angie can take a look at it as soon as we get to the mansion."

Briana nodded. "Thank you. And Craig, I love you."

Craig didn't say anything as he helped Briana to the plane.

*** *** ***

Angela watched nervously as the X-Men walked off the Blackbird. She had spoken to Warren while they had been en route, and knew that everyone was more or less all right—although she would be getting two patients in the medlab—but she wanted to see Nathan more than anything else in the world. She had been too stubborn to tell him she loved him before he'd left, and the whole time he'd been gone she hadn't been able to stop worrying that she'd never get the chance.

Nathan was the last person off the Blackbird, and as soon as he was off the ramp, she ran to him, throwing her arms around him and kissing him passionately. The few X-Men that hadn't figured out the true nature of their relationship yet watched on in shock, while those who knew muttered random comments about how it was about time.

"What was that for?" Nathan asked when Angie pulled away.

"I love you, Nate," Angie said. "I love you more than I've ever loved anyone in my life."

Nathan resisted the urge to hug her with all his strength, reminding himself of how weak she was. "I love you, too," he replied. He kissed her once on her forehead and then smiled down at her. "Now I believe you have a couple of patients to attend to."

Angela smiled for a moment, then sobered. "How bad is it?"

Cable moved his arms so they were loosely wrapped around her waist. "I'm almost positive Briana's leg is broken in several places, and Logan—well, we thought she was dead, but she was griping at Tristan the whole way to the Blackbird because he wouldn't let her walk, and I noticed her doing it again when he carried her down to the medlab just now, so I think she'll live.

"That sounds like Logan all right," Angela said. "You want to come down with me? I'm probably going to need a nurse."

Nathan frowned. "I'll go help you, but I'm not putting on a white dress and hat no matter how much you beg."

Angie laughed. "Why, Nate, I believe you just made a joke."

Nathan draped his arm across her back, resting his hand on her hip as they began to walk off together. "Yeah, well, I have been known to make those from time to time."

Angela just smiled, happy that the X-Men had made it out again alive, and that she was in the arms of the man she loved.

*** *** ***

Briana had been going stir crazy the past couple of days, stuck in the bed, unable to move her leg. Angela had spent some time with her, making an attempt not to leave Briana alone all the time, but Briana knew it was more out of Angie's feeling of duty as a doctor than out of any desire to spend time with her cousin.

The person Briana wanted most there was Craig, but according to Angela, he'd already gone back to New York City, saying he'd stayed away from his job long enough. Briana didn't even want to admit how much it had hurt that he'd left without telling her good-bye.

Even when Briana had been telling Craig that she was engaged to someone else, she'd wanted in her heart to stay there, in New York, and marry Craig instead of Howard. She'd always known that she didn't really love Howard the way she should a husband, but before Craig it hadn't meant anything to her. She was getting married because it was time for her to, and Howard fit the bill as the kind of man she should marry. Love didn't enter into the equation.

Then, Briana had fallen in love with Craig, but now he wouldn't have anything to do with her, and Briana knew that was no one's fault but her own. She laid in the bed, waiting for her leg to be healed enough to allow her to go back to England and hopefully forget how to feel again.

*** *** ***

Tristan walked out on the roof and sat down beside Logan. "Hey," Logan said softly.

"I've been looking for you," Tristan told her.

"I've been up here."

Tristan put his arm around her and pulled her head over to rest on his shoulder. "Talk to me."

"'Bout what?"

"Logan, there is something bothering you. Ever since we returned from the battle against the Dark One, you've been distant during the day, and then at night you hold me like I'm going to disappear before you wake up. Tell me what's wrong."

"You said the Dark One hasn't been defeated for good," Logan said.

"I don't think he is," Tristan replied.

"I keep expecting you to tell me that you're going to leave. Every moment I spend with you, I care about you more, and I'm afraid that when you do leave I won't be able to let you go."

Tristan pulled Logan into his lap and kissed her gently on the lips. "I'm not going anywhere," he told her. "I don't know where the Dark One is now, but I know it's going to be awhile before he fully recovers from that battle. No one's ever been able to hurt him the way you did, Logan."

Logan looked up at him, and the hope in her eyes made Tristan's heart thump harder in his chest. "You're not going to leave me?"

Tristan shook his head. "No. I love you." He smiled and kissed her forehead. "You're stuck with me," he said, mimicking what she had said to him when they'd first gotten together.

Logan smiled. "I'm happy to hear that."

Tristan held Logan tightly to him, content just to have her in his arms.

*** *** ***

Marie watched from the control room as her brother tore through everything the computer threw at him in the Danger Room. She'd never seen Ric like that before, with so much pent up anger. She watched until the program ended, and then when down to the Danger Room.

"Hi."

"Hi," Ric replied, out of breath.

Marie gave him a weak smile. "So what did those holograms ever do to you?"

Ric got a towel from is bag in the corner of the room and wiped the sweat of his face. "Nothing, but after a while they all started looking like the Dark Angel."

Marie shook her head. "Somehow, I don't think that's healthy."

"He doesn't deserve Logan."

"Tristan's not really that bad of a guy, Ric," Marie said.

Ric looked at her sharply. "Don't tell me you like them together."

"I don't," Marie told him, "but not because I don't think Tristan's good enough for her."

"Why then?"

"I don't want to get into it."

Ric knew better than to try to push his sister into telling him anything. "I was hoping after we fought the Dark One, Tristan would just go home and I'd have another chance with Logan."

"I don't think that's going to happen," Marie said. "Logan told me that Tristan said he's not leaving."

"I know," Ric said. "He's smarter than I was; he's not leaving her." Ric sighed. "Logan's so amazing. She always had this way of making me feel like I was something better than  just me."

Marie sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. "Sit down here and talk to me about it. You need to let this out."

Ric sat down beside his sister. "I took her for granted, 'Rie," Ric said. "She was the best thing that ever happened to me, and somehow I thought I could survive without her. I thought this would be easier on my own, that everything that's going on inside me right now would be easier to handle if I didn't have Logan, if I was alone. I was so wrong."

Marie frowned. "What's going on with you, Ric?" she asked. "You haven't let anyone in, even me."

"I still can hear Zach, inside my head," Ric said. "He's messed up, Marie, and wants me to be just Renegade again. That's why I didn't change my codename back to Red Thief when I came back to the X-Men. He's a part of me—Renegade's a part of me. I'm holding it back, trying to make my personality the one that's dominant, but I'm not always sure I can stay in control. I'm afraid I'm going to lose it, Marie—that one day it's going to be too much, and I'll become what I was with the New Brotherhood."

"Ric…why haven't you said any of this to anyone before?" Marie asked. "At least you should talk to Mom. She's been through what you're going through, she can help you."

"Mom? Marie, she could barely help herself for years, what makes you think she'll be to do anything for me? She can't even teach me to control these powers the way she did. I'm all alone in this."

"You're never alone," Marie said, hugging her brother. "No matter what happens, I'm here for you. Even if it comes down to you or everyone else on the X-Men, Ric, I'll always choose you. You're family, and that means more to me than anything."

"I know, Marie, but there's nothing you can do for me here." Ric pulled away from his sister and stood up. "This is one battle I'm going to have to fight for myself."

Marie stared at the doors to the Danger Room for a long time after Ric had already walked out.

*** *** ***

"All ready to leave, Briana?" Angela asked.

"Yes," Briana replied, balancing the best she could on her crutches. "And I'm sure you're glad to see me go."

"Nah," Warren said. "We'll miss you."

Briana shook her head. "No you won't. Especially you, Warren. After all, you still swear I tried to kill you, even thought all I was doing was cutting tomatoes." Warren's mouth fell a little a Briana laughed. "I'm not as stupid as the two of you think I am. But don't worry, it will be quite some time before I find my way back to New York—if I ever do again."

"Keep in touch, Briana," Angie said. "You are my cousin after all, and I like to know how you're doing."

"I'll write," Briana said with a nod. A horn honked outside. "That's probably my cab."

"Are you sure you don't want a ride to the airport?" Warren asked.

"No. I'll be fine."

Warren nodded, and he and Nathan helped Briana carry her bags out to the cab. Briana was just about to get in the car, when she heard someone call from behind her. She turned around, unable to trust her ears.

"Craig?"

"Hey, Bri."

"What are you doing here?" Briana asked.

"I wanted to tell you good-bye."

Briana had lamented that he'd never told her good-bye, but now that he had, she wasn't sure if her heart could handle the sound. "You came all the way in from New York City to tell me good-bye?"

Craig shook his head. "Actually, I'm having dinner with my sister tonight, but I figured while I was here I might as well put a definite ending on things between us."

The aching inside Briana grew. "I don't want things between us to be over," she said. "I want to be with you."

"You have your fiancé," Craig said. "Go marry Howard."

"I don't want to marry Howard."

"Then don't. Just don't be with me, either."

Briana forced herself not to cry. She was stronger than that. "Good-bye, Craig."

"Good-bye, Briana."

Only after Briana's cab was far out of sight did Craig let himself feel the pain losing her had caused. In the short time he'd known her, she'd made him feel more than any other woman had before, but now he knew everything had been a lie.

Craig walked back into the mansion feeling empty.

*** *** ***

Okay, so it's not the best ending in the world, but I'm stopping it there for now. I tried to think of someway to end on a happy note, but with this particular story I couldn't figure out a way to do that. So that's it for the second in my New X-Men Chronicles series. Let me know if you want a part three!