Marie couldn’t stop screaming.
All that her mind could process was the fact that the building they had been standing in front of was quickly crumbling to pieces. With Logan inside.
Her husband.
Her lover.
Her best friend.
Everything that she was was trapped inside the ruined building and they wouldn’t let her go to him. It took the combined forces of Hank and Jean to hold her still, but they did nonetheless.
“LOGAN! LOGAN, AH’M COMIN’!”
Still, the hands continued to hold her back. A thick layer of blue fur prevented her lethal touch from having any effect on her captor. Her tears had long since blurred her vision beyond comprehension, but every instinct in her body was telling her exactly where she needed to go.
“Rogue, there is nothing you can do.”
She shook her head defiantly. “No! That’ll never be true! Logan! Sugah, Ah’m here! Ah’m right here! Please fight! LOGAN!”
“Rogue....”
“Logan, please....”
“Rogue.... Rogue! You need to calm down. You’ll only make yourself sick.”
Marie continued to pull feebly at Hank’s grip. “Logan... please. Please come out, sugah....”
Her body collapsed bonelessly against Hank’s. Believing Marie to have ended her fight, the gentle giant released her, allowing her to slide to the paved street below.
As soon as she was balanced on her own two feet, Marie took off running. She stumbled in the direction of what had once been the Windsor Casino only to fall countless times. She tore open her palms on the rough ashvalt, but ignored the pain as she fought her way towards the six foot waterfall that marked what had once been the entrance to the extravagant building.
“Logan, hang on! Ah’m comin’!”
Marie didn’t get very far before there were more hands holding her in place. Keeping her from getting to Logan. This time it wasn’t Hank and Marie was able to attack. She flung her hand back wildly, feeling a touch of warm skin under her palm before the drain began.
Remy.
He was worried about her.
Not about Logan.
He fell away and there was someone else. This person was smart enough to keep any naked flesh out of her reach. To remedy that, Marie jabbed her elbow into the person’s stomach and used their quick loss of breath to spin around and latch on to the bared throat.
St. John.
St. John was scared for her.
He was scared for Logan.
And he hoped to hell that Hunter and Chase didn’t lose their Daddy.
“Ah’m sorry, Johnny,” Marie murmured as she spun back around towards the demolished casino.
This time no one stopped her as she raced blindly towards what remained of the once brilliant lit waterfall and entrance. Now all that remained was a few areas of rubble with water pouring over it and a wall of fire that had once been the brightly coloured neon lights that lined the bottom of the wide roof that covered the main entrance.
Remy’s powers exploded whatever was in her path and St. John’s gave her a safe passage through the fire.
Marie....
“LOGAN!”
His pain nearly crippled her. It raced through every cell in her body, making her scream with a pain that wasn’t her own. Marie fell to her knees, crawling through the smoking rubble in search of her husband.
“Hang on, sugah. Ah’m comin’....”
Logan’s screams filled her mind, begging her wordlessly to find him. To help him.
All of downtown Windsor remained in a state of shocked silence, Marie’s screams echoing far into the night. The quieter Logan’s cries got, the louder Marie’s increased. Her pain increased as the man she loved more than anything slowly slipped away from her.
Buried under a mountain of rubble.
In the dark.
In agony.
Alone.
MARIE!
Marie stopped dead-- all movements and sounds simply dead. She hovered for a few moments above a certain spot.
She then placed both hands on the concrete below her and concentrated.
The explosion sent shock waves through her system and nearly blew her arms out of their sockets.
Again she used Remy’s borrowed kinetic energy to blast through the new layer of concrete debris.
“ROGUE, STOP!”
Rogue, you need to calm down. You will only hurt yourself this way.
“Shut the fuck up, Chuck, an’ get outta mah head,” Marie snarled as she used the now dwindling energy to force her way to Logan. “Logan’s all that matters.”
Exhaustion was quickly creeping up on her. Her arms, which were the only things supporting her, were nearly giving out with each new blast of explosive energy she forced into the remains of the once glorious building.
“Ugnuhhhh....”
Clawing with torn and bloodied hands, Marie pulled away a bit of rubble to reveal an arm encased in ripped black leather.
“Logan!”
Marie’s fingers were ripped to shreds as she struggled to pull away the mess that covered Logan.
“Help me! Please, somebody help!” Marie sobbed as she fought to lift the heavier pieces. She didn’t want to risk Logan’s safety by blasting away the debris that was directly covering him and she was too weak to lift it by herself. Sobbing and screaming, Marie pleaded for someone to help her. It didn’t matter who, just as long as she got to Logan.
“Ah’m here, sugah. Please hang on,” Marie gasped out, barely able to swallow past the huge lump in her throat.
An unseen force lifted the largest piece, revealing Logan’s ravaged chest and torso.
As well as his face.
His skin had been torn, ripped and gouged, making it hard for Marie to even recognize him. It didn’t matter what he looked like, though, because inside he was still Logan and she could still feel him.
Marie paid no attention to the dead mutant who lay beside her husband. The only reason she even noticed her was because her red hair was draped across part of Logan’s chest. Shoving the girl aside, Marie crouched overtop Logan, smoothing her fingers through his hair as she laid her face down next to his.
“Ah’ve got ya now, Logan. Ah’ve got ya,” she assured him, her sobs making the words almost indistinguishable.
For a brief moment, Logan’s right eye opened. Marie met his hazel gaze and quirked the corners of her lips up in what she hoped was a smile. She knew that it was a grimace, though. He slipped into unconsciousness almost immediately, no longer a need to stay awake and fight. Marie could do that for him now.
Marie....
“It’s over now, sugah. We’re gonna take ya home now. Just hang on fer me. Please hang on. Ah’m not gonna lose ya. Not like this.”
Marie got no response from Logan that time, mental or otherwise, and that scared her more than anything else had that night.