There was no air passing between Logan’s lips. His chest wasn’t moving. He had been under water. How long, Marie didn’t know. All that she did know was that Logan wasn’t breathing. No other signs of life either except for the weak pulse she could feel on his throat.
Jeanie, help! Logan’s not breathing! Marie screamed to the telepath as she attempted to begin CPR. Healing factor or no, Logan still needed to breath.
“Don’t ya dare die on me, Logan,” Marie ordered as she began pounding on Logan’s chest in an attempt to get his adamantium enforced ribs to move. “Ya die an’ Ah’ll fuckin’ kill ya! Ya hear me, Logan! Don’t ya fuckin’ die!”
Rogue, what’s the matter? Are you all right? Jean demanded, appearing in Marie’s mind suddenly.
‘Course Ah’m not all right! Logan’s not breathin’! Ah’m gonna bring him back t’ the mansion so Ah need ya an’ Hank t’ be ready fer us!
We’ll be ready for you.
Turning back to Logan, Marie ran her fingers through his wet hair, brushing it away from his face. She could feel tears stinging the back of her eyes and rapidly blinked them away. She refused to cry. Not when Logan needed her.
“All right, sugah, Ah’m gonna get ya somewhere safe,” Marie whispered, lovingly gathering Logan up in her arms. “Then Jeanie’s gonna fix ya up an’ everythin’ will be okay.... Ah hope.”
Concentrating on her new powers, Marie slowly lifted them off the ground. She hovered a bit, becoming acquainted with the new weight and with the flying in general. Had the situation been different, Marie would have just let herself soar. As a little girl she had always wanted to fly. Feel the wind blowing through her hair.
Now all that she wanted was to get Logan back to the mansion so that Jean could get him breathing again.
The flight itself was very awkward and ungainly as Marie was tossed about by wind currents that she hadn’t even known existed until then. There were several times that she nearly dropped Logan as she was bounced about in the wind. It was only desperation that enabled her to hold onto him.
“Just hang tight a little longer, sugah. We’re almost there,” Marie assured Logan as they neared the mansion.
Rogue, Hank and I are waiting on the back patio, Jean informed her.
Marie nodded her head, and redirected her flight towards the patio. The lights in the sun room beyond had been turned on, giving Marie the necessary light to see any obstacles that were on the patio. Besides Hank and Jean, the Professor, Scott and Bobby were also on the patio, armed with restraints in case Logan awoke badly.
“Jeanie, make him breathe!” Marie cried as she and Logan landed rather ungracefully. “He was floatin’ in the river when Ah found him. Ah don’t know how long he’s been in there.”
“It couldn’t have been very long. It has been less than ten minutes since you informed me of Logan’s presence on the grounds,” Xavier assure her.
Leaving Logan in Jean’s capable hands, Marie stumbled backwards, only to collapse on the grass at the edge of the patio. She tried to keep her eyes on Logan as Jean and Hank fought to get him breathing again, but soon found herself unable to. They were pounding on Logan’s chest so hard with no result. Logan still wasn’t breathing and Marie knew that was a bad thing.
No matter how advanced his healing abilities were, a body could only go so long without fresh oxygen.
“Rogue, what happened in you room?” Xavier inquired as he navigated his chair over to where she sat.
Training her eyes on her lap, Marie burst into tears. “Hunter came out ‘cause he had a bad dream an’ started askin’ me if his Daddy had been taken away by monsters. Ah tried explainin’ t’ him how we were gonna go after Logan first thing in the mornin’ when Logan was suddenly in the doorway along with that Carol bitch. Ah know that Ah shouldn’t call her that, but she told Hunter that she was Logan’s wife. D’ ya have any idea how much that hurt mah little boy? Ah just kinda lost it then. No one hurts mah babies.”
“Did you touch her then?”
“Not till after she pressed a gun to mah head. That’s when Ah touched her,” Marie informed the older man. “Turns out she didn’t have sonic boom screams. Those were little bombs set up all round the foundation o’ the place. Toppled it in an instant.”
Xavier looked quite perplexed. “Are you certain?”
Marie simply tapped her temple. “Ah’m sure, Professor. Magneto was involved. Quicksilver at least. He was in the casino an’ got her out ‘fore it exploded.”
“What of the body that you found on top of Logan?”
“Someone that worked there. Quicksilver killed her ‘forehand an’ threw her on Logan when it blew,” Marie said, drawing forth the memories as she spoke. “Guess we shoulda followed up on that one. Might o’ seen this one comin’ if we had.”
Xavier only sat there in silence, muddling over what he had just learned. For her part, Marie laid back in the grass, crying quietly as she stared up at the stars.
“.... Come on, Logan. I need you to breathe now....”
Jean’s words only made the tears come harder. Logan still wasn’t breathing.
Come on, sugah. Start breathin’. Just spit that water outta yer lungs an’ start breathin’.
“.... I am well acquainted with your stubbornness, Logan, but I can assure you that now is not the time to be stubborn....”
“Ah bet ya could snap me in half if ya wanted t’,” Marie mused as she and Logan lay in bed, their bodies wrapped around each other after a long night of love making.
Logan lifted up his head to stare at her. “Mind telling me where this though came from?”
Marie snuggled deeper into Logan’s arms, pressing a kiss to his chest. “Ah just feel so tiny when ya hold me. Ah all but disappear when ya wrap yer arms ‘round me.”
“And that’s a bad thing how?”
“Never said that it was,” Marie informed her husband. “Just statin’ a fact.”
Logan chuckled and kissed her on the top of the head. His laughter turned into an all out moan as he hand snaked down his body to the inside of his right thigh, sliding ever upwards.
“This isn’t working, Hank. We need to get him down to the med lab,” Jean called out suddenly, snapping Marie from her memories.
“Logan!” Marie screamed, scrambling onto her knees and crawling the few feet to where Logan lay, completely unresponsive to Jean and Hank’s attempts to revive him. “Don’t ya dare die on me, Logan! Yer not allowed t’ die! LOGAN!”
Marie collapsed onto the patio, sobbing into the bricks. She tried to push herself up, but was no longer able to support herself up on her arms.
Marie... please....
The half whispered words echoing in her mind gave Marie the energy that she needed to push herself to her feet. She nearly crashed into Bobby who was coming to help her up. Stumbling past him, Marie rushed after Jean and Hank who were escorting Logan’s body to the medical labs down in the lower levels of the mansion.
“Logan, please....” Marie sobbed, grabbed hold of his hand. “Ah’m here fer ya, sugah. Ah’m right here, an’ Ah’m not goin’ anywhere till ya open yer eyes.”
Brining Logan’s hand to her lips, Marie pressed a kiss to his knuckles.
“Does it hurt when they come out?” Marie asked as she and Logan drove through the vastness of the Canadian wilderness.
Logan spared a quick glance at his knuckles before returning his gaze to the road. “Everytime.”
Suddenly, Logan’s hand tightened around her own.
“Jeanie, he moved!” Marie cried, reaching her other hand to cup the side of Logan’s face. “That’s it, sugah. Come back t’ me.”
Can’t breathe.... Hurts... hurts so much....
“There’s a lot o’ water in yer lungs, sugah. It’s keepin’ ya from breathin’,” Marie whispered, pressing a kiss to his closed right eye. “Jeanie an’ Hank are tryin’ t’ help ya, but they can’t do CPR ‘cause o’ the metal around yer lungs.”
Logan’s entire body began to spasm then. Marie jumped back in fright, but didn’t release his hand. She kept a firm grip on Logan’s hand even as Jean lost her mental grip on his body and he went crashing to the ground.
“LOGAN!” Marie dropped to her knees beside Logan, crouching over top of him. She held Logan’s head steady as he trashed about on the ground.
“Ah’m right here, sugah,” Marie said again as she watched Logan’s right hand grasp blindly for something that wasn’t there. She quickly reached out and grabbed hold of that hand, holding it against her chest as she began to sob once again.
To Marie’s completely amazement, Logan’s back arched and he began coughing up the water that had been trapped in his lungs. He lay still then, sputtering and sobbing, before rolling onto his side. Marie pulled his head onto her lap and wrapped her body around his protectively. She began to sob even harder when she heard him whisper one word.
Her name.