A hand clutched at her chest in agony, fresh screams burning her throat. Her eyes screwed shut, torn with shock, pain and fear. Over her sounds of distress, she could barely hear Logan’s anxious calls, but he sounded terrified. She could feel him trying to get hold of her, trying to calm her, but she couldn’t lie still as she felt her lungs slowly rendering useless. With a large gasp her eyes flew open to see Logan hovering over her, pinning her shoulders to the bed as he stared down into her face. “Marie!” he cried loudly over her chorus of screams, confused panic etched into his face. She realised she was crying, tears streaming from her eyes as she writhed and gasped, a hand continuing to clutch at her bosom in desperation. “Marie!” he called again, trying to take hold of her hands and prise them from her.
“No..” she panted as her hands scrabbled blindly at her chest. “Logan..”
“Marie..” he said again, softer, lifting a hand in a gentle bid to take her face. “It’s ok, everything’s alright.”
It was slowly dawning on Rogue that her breaths were not struggling, and that there was no pain in her chest. “W-what..?” she breathed out staring up at him through thick tears.
“Whatever it is,” Logan whispered, “It’s a dream, you’re safe.”
Her chest continued to heave for well-needed breaths and Rogue turned her head to stare around the room, noticing the first light of dawn beginning to penetrate through the gaps of the curtains. “A dream?” she said weakly, a hand rubbing the place she had felt his blades penetrate.
“You wanna talk about it?”
At this, Rogue quickly shook her head, closing her eyes in a bid to disguise her tears, but they instead trickled out to follow the path of many. “N-no..”
Logan carefully brushed away the tear trails with his thumb, eyes watching her face with concern. “Well, it seemed bad, whatever it was. You started thrashin’ and screamin’. I woke up thinkin’ you were being attacked!”
Rogue let out an uncomfortable sigh, a hand slowly rubbing at her aching throat. “I was..” she murmured weakly. “I was dyin’.. It felt so real.. I could feel the pain.” With Logan’s fingers still brushing her cheek, her eyes turning upon him, “You got in bed and then stabbed me.”
More tears rolled off her cheeks as Logan stared down at her. “No..” he murmured quietly, catching these falling droplets. “I would never do that.”
“Wolverine would,” Rogue muttered with a weak tremble in her tone, her eyes gazing up at him. She saw him deflate and shrink with clear discomfort, frown deepening all the more.
“I’m not Wolverine,” he said anxiously, in a hoarse tone. “I’m Logan..” The concern was evident in his gaze as he tried to will her to understanding, perhaps trying to assure himself at the same time.
Chewing her lower lip, Rogue managed a small nod, lifting her hands to wipe away the tears and take in a great breath to settle herself. Logan’s gentle caresses were managing to reassure her and calm her down, and eventually she manage a small smile for him. “Just a dream, right?”
Logan nodded in affirmation, “Just a dream.”
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After setting off to travel once more, they continued on across the icy roads, still with no apparent direction. But Logan never needed a map, so Rogue had confidence in his route. Since her hauntingly realistic nightmare, Rogue was feeling a little bit better; perhaps because of she was out of the motel room and away from the bed she thought she had met her death in. She had been a little subdued since, however, her head resting on the cold glass of the car as they drove down the roads of Canada. The dream had brought back into full light just how dangerous Wolverine could be, and she was aware she had that very same creature lurking in the shadows of her tainted mind. If Logan could be coaxed to take on Wolverine’s nature, could she? She shivered a little at the thought, mind’s eye witnessing a brief flash of feral eyes before it disappeared. That was happening a lot lately, more and more she could feel his presence becoming more prominent, and knew it was the same for Logan. It seemed Stryker’s call to Wolverine hadn’t only affected Logan.
It was frightening to think that feral behaviour could overtake her and change her the way it did Logan, but it was also a haunting insight to the fear Logan was forced to live with day by day, never quite sure when Wolverine fancied taking centre stage and dominating. It made Rogue wonder that if Stryker’s interfering was what had caused the Wolverine in her head to appear so much more frequently, to give her emotions to didn’t feel very often, to haunt her dreams at night.
She slowly looked over towards Logan, who was concentrating on the roads as he drove along, navigating the sports vehicle with more care, seeing as it was not made for rough roads like this. At the moment, there was no visible taint of Wolverine in him, she could tell. But she couldn’t help but fear that he could snap as quickly as he did in her dream and turn against her.
Was this how she was to feel from now on? Anxious? Fearful? Constantly on tenterhooks about any possible personality change?
The rest of the car journey didn’t make her feel any better. There was an unmistakable knot of concern in her gut that didn’t seem ready to leave anytime soon. The majority of the day was spent in deep thought, eyes unseeingly watching the blurred roadside as they travelled. She barely even noticed as the evening sunlight began to scorch the white lands, but Logan’s voice summoned her attention as he spoke up. “We ought to stay here tonight,” he said, explaining their early rest stop as he glanced towards her. “Save some money, eh?”
Rogue looked out at the building further ahead down the road, questions answered as she recognised the Athabasca bar awaiting them in the distance.
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