Old times, but better, thought Rogue as she stared ahead out of the car windscreen. Besides her, in the driver’s seat, Logan steered the Cadillac across the snowy roads of North West Ontario. The transport given by the Professor was noticeably more adept than Logan’s previous camper, which would have probably been written off of it’s own accord soon or later if it hadn’t have been sabotaged by Sabretooth.
“You feelin’ better now, kid?” asked Logan for the seventh time since they had begun travelling that morning.
“I’m fine!” Rogue replied, her answer identical. “It’s you I’m worried about – you’ve been driving for five hours straight.”
“I didn’t see no point in havin’ a rest stop when we were barely out of New York,” explained Logan in a quiet grumble as he turned the steering wheel to navigate the curve of the road. The sun was slowly changing to a bloody red on the horizon, leaking orange hue over the distance skyline of mountainous terrain. “We’re near the border anyway, we’ll stop just inside Manitoba, should be some hotels around the county line.”
“Do you wanna visit Laughlin City again?” asked Rogue quietly, glancing over to Logan.
Logan looked a little surprised, “You really want to go there?”
“Sure,” said Rogue with a smile, “T’place we first met ain’t it?”
With a small smile of his own, Logan glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, “Well, we’re quite far off from that yet.”
“I know, but just make sure we stop there one evenin’.” There was a brief moment of silence before Rogue straightened hurriedly in her seat, pointing through the window at the nearby roadside, which had been lit up by the car’s headlights. “Look! We’re entering Manitoba!”
Logan’s eyes read over the sign as it passed them. “Alright, keep an eye out for somewhere to stop.”
“I can see a building down there,” said Rogue, squinting her eyes. Through the darkening surroundings was a hotel further down the road, reasonably sized, and pleasant-looking. Logan normally drove straight past these kind of stops, for nice hotels didn’t tend to have nice prices.
“Stop here?” asked Logan as he began to slow the car down.
“Yeah, looks alright doesn’t it?”
Pulling into the car park, Logan navigated the vehicle into a vacant parking space. Once the engine had died away, he looked round at Rogue. “How are we paying for this, again?”
“Professor Xavier gave us his bank card,” explained Rogue, pulling it out of her coat pocket. “And said if anyone has any issues, tell them to telephone him.” Logan surveyed the piece of plastic dubiously. Catching his expression, Rogue grinned, “You’re a fan of cold hard cash, huh?”
“Just never used one before,” reasoned Logan with a small shrug.
“They’re fine. I used to have one, just takes money straight out of the bank account.”
Logan released his seatbelt, readying to exit the car, “Let’s watch what we’re spending. Even if he is a millionaire.”
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The key jiggled quietly in the lock, the door being pushed open. Rogue headed inside their new room, flicking the light switch besides the door. The dark room came alight, revealing a decent sized room. A large window looked down onto the car park and distant mountains whilst two single beds sat against the far wall. Logan strode by Rogue, dropping their bags onto the floor.
“Hey, look at this,” said Logan, opening a door besides him. Inside there was en-suite. “They had these at the mansion, didn’t they?”
Rogue sat herself down on the edge of one of the beds, grinning as she watched Logan check out the bathroom, “Yeah,” she answered. “Though that might only have a shower.”
“Yeah,” said Logan as he shut the en-suite door. His eyes scanned the room approvingly before he headed over to the window. He peered out at the horizon, the burn of the setting sun reflecting it’s hue in his careful eyes.
“I think I’m gonna have a shower,” said Rogue quietly, pushing herself to her feet.
“Right,” said Logan distractedly, still watching the view that stretched out.
Rogue shook her head with a grin, slipping into the bathroom and pushing the door to. Leaning back on the wooden surface, she released a gentle sigh. It was strange how travelling could make one so tired, even if they had been sat in a car. The bathroom was tiled blindingly white, with a pristine glass shower in the far corner. Rogue wasted no time in removing her clothes, and within minutes she was under the warm water of the showerhead. In truth, she wasn’t all that dirty, but sometimes she just felt it. Especially since she touched Logan and felt that violent course of rage take over her. She tried her best not to dwell on what she continued to experience to this day.
Logan’s feelings of hatred and anger, his feral nature infused with his personality.An anger now a part of her, just as he was. But what effected her the most, and she hadn’t told him this, was his undeniable feelings of misery and guilt buried in the murky depths. If she probed hard enough into the new Wolverine corner of her mind, with a breathy gasp at the beast inside her head, she was aware of how many times he had tried to end his existence and failed. How the scars of his attempts faded from his flesh, but never from his mind.
Beneath all that tough exterior, his biggest hatred was not towards his faceless enemies, but to himself.
Rogue gave an involuntary shiver, even though the hot water of the shower was still crashing upon her bare form. The scenes she kept witnessing in her dreams were horrific enough, but to know that the man who had vowed to protect her was the one who was subjected to events best suited to a horror film chilled her to the core. Rogue titled her face up towards the falling water, closing her eyes tightly. She fought to keep that part of her mind shut off. She had experimented whilst travelling in the car. If she concentrated hard on the new being inside her head, unnatural urges crept into her, making her want to snap with rage and destroy everything before her because the world was against her. It was against him.
As the last of the suds trickled off her body, Rogue turned off the shower, stepping out with a soft shiver at the cooler air about her. White fluffy towels were piled besides the sink and she selected a large one for herself. She wrapped herself up in the soft fabric, inhaling their clean scent as she dried her face and neck. For now, Wolverine had returned to the back of her mind.
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The light in the bedroom had since been turned off when Rogue exited the en-suite, still tightly wrapped in her towel. She noticed Logan’s shadowy outline laying fully clothed on one of the single beds. His figure was very still and made no movement when Rogue reappeared. Assuming he was asleep, Rogue made no hurry as she wandered over to her own bed, bending to sift through her bag, which sat on the covers. One hand kept her towel safely against her form whilst the other picked through various items. With an impatient tut she swung her long wet locks from her face and over her shoulder. Vision no longer obscured, she continued her search.
From the other bed, Logan silently watched her, having been awake all the time. His still silence was nothing but habit. His eyes had followed her across the blackness of the bedroom, which was only dimly lit by a sliver of dusk light through the gap in the curtains. Rogue appeared to carry herself a lot more gracefully, but he assumed that was the lack of many clothing pieces shrouding her milky flesh. Normally dragged down by her excessive garments, Logan noticed how much more easy she seemed to behave, the anxiousness gone from her. He had always noted a flicker of fear in her eyes, like a worried prey, when she passed by people.
Logan was sure she was not aware he was watching her from his bed, for she was becoming increasingly negligent with her towel. As she bent over her bag the towel was loosening bit by bit, but she didn’t seem to care.
Just as Logan was about to warn her – he wasn’t prepared for a very embarrassing end to this trip – there was a sudden noise outside. Logan shot upright, startling Rogue, who dropped the hairbrush she had finally found. “Logan!” she gasped, now making a very large effort to keep her towel covering her.
“Ssh!” Logan quickly hissed as he stealthily pushed off the bed and crept towards the bedroom window. He slowly nudged the curtain aside, staring down onto the car park. His piercing eyes trailed the scene, where the nosier sounded again. A cat jumped down off a bin and arched it’s back idly. It turned its head slowly, staring up at Logan in the window before it swayed its tail and ran off across the snow. Logan pulled back from the window, tugging the curtains closed. “Nothin’,” he sighed. He turned his back on the window leaning on the window ledge as a hand rubbed his eyes.
“Just relax a lil’,” suggested Rogue quietly as she walked towards him.
“Yeah,” Logan sighed, slowly raising his eyes back upon the younger mutant.
Rogue stopped before him, her head titled upwards as she stared up into the rough face, “Go to bed,” she said, “get some rest.”
Logan’s lips lifted into a slight smile, he raised his hand, about to give her arm a nudge but stopped himself just in time. Rogue glanced down at his extending hand, which had frozen in his actions.
A small, sad smile spread across her lips, eyes rising back up to his face. “See you in the mornin’..” she murmured softly, turning away from him and returning back to her bed, leaving Logan stood with a frown.
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