The hot summer sun baked his back while the heat coming off the engine flamed against his front, effectively trapping and cooking him. The bike was a stupid idea but for some reasoned he figured she’d be listening for it, so he kept it.
Then the heavy iron gates of Xavier’s Institute appeared in front of him and he could almost not feel the blistering heat anymore. They immediately opened for him so he didn’t even have to slow down. That was till a gleam just ahead in the road caught his eye.
Curious, he brought the bike to a stop beside it. It was half buried, left out here for God knows how long. He leaned the bike over to pick it up before its familiar shape stilled his hand. His breath caught in his throat as he rubbed a thumb over it, dusting it off. The numbers glared hatefully back at him.
The engine under him was gunned and he tore down the rest of the way to the looming, imposing mansion. He turned quickly; bringing the bike to a sudden stop right in front of the glaring man waiting for him.
“Watch it, you animal! You’ll tear it up like that!” Scott hissed.
He jumped off and let the bike dropped unnoticed to the ground. “Where is she?” He growled at the other man. “Where’s Rogue?”
“Rogue? She was sitting on the patio the last I saw her. But what does that—Hey!”
He was already marching away from him, his fist balled tightly at his sides. He quickly cut through the grounds, circling around to the back lawns. Then he saw her, sitting curled up on a swing on the patio, a book in her lap. He just stopped.
Her head immediately lifted and she looked right at him. Her mouth gapped opened, but only for a split second. Then it closed and pursed together just as she slammed her book shut and jumped to her feet.
“Hey!” He had to run to catch her. “Rogue!” He yelled when she kept moving away from him.
“Leave me alone, Logan. Better yet, just leave,” she threw over her shoulder at him.
He managed to grab her upper arm and spun her back around to face him. Big brown eyes that he hadn’t seen it nearly a year and a half glared back at him. The metal tag in his hand jiggled under his grasp, making him glare back at her.
The stand off was broken when he opened his hand, lifting in front of her face. Her eyes, however, didn’t so much as sneak down to the metal, no matter how bright the sun danced off of it.
“I gave you these,” he growled, lifting them higher. “I *told* you I’d be back for them.”
“And now you have them,” she replied sternly. “I guess you can leave now.”
He snarled, clenching his fist shut again. “It wasn’t just about the tags, Rogue. You know that. You *know* that.”
“I know I’m done with this conversation.” She ripped her arm out of his grasp and spun back around towards the door.
She didn’t get very far before she was once again in his grasp, this time being backed into the side of the mansion.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “What happened?”
She shook her head and tried to shove him back but his enhance body remained immobile, not matter what. “You bastard, you know exactly what happened. Nothing happened. You just left.”
His face softened and he blinked at her. “But...I left you my tags. I--”
He actually stumbled at her violent push. “You left me your tags?! You left me your nightmares! You left me your darkness! You left me all your hate and pain and---”
“I left you my love!” He screamed, digging his fingers and tags into her arms.
“But you weren’t here!” She countered in a shrill wail. “What the hell am I suppose to do with any of it and not you?! You bastard, you left me to drown in all of it! And you took your damn precious time getting back to save me!”
“I'm here--” He whispered frantically.
Tired, deep brown pits leveled with his needy hazel eyes. “It’s too late, Logan. I’m already gone. Sugah, I drowned three months ago. What were you doing while I was treading water?”
Silence. All he had for her was silence and she gave him that same faint snort under her breath. “That’s what I thought.” She shouldered his static frame out of her way and headed for her escape route.
“Marie.” Her name was shortly followed by a bare hand against her cheek and then soft, trembling lips pressed against her own. She tried to step away from him, but he only followed her backwards until he had her body pressed back against the wall again. There was no way of telling who the whimpering sounds between their lips belong too, but neither it nor the pull of her mutation did little to dissuade the slow, lazy slide of his lips against hers.
Finally his mouth was pulled away from hers as he fell forward, crushing her body against the wall. “Logan,” she choked out against the tears still caught in her throat and the lack of fresh air getting to her lungs, and the images and memories playing out in her mind, finding their partners in her own library.
His unforgiving weight remained right where it was. “I’m here. I’m here,” he whispered weak and coarse against her neck.
She sniffed back her tears and her hand came up to pet his chaotic hair as she kissed the top of his head. Her other hand traveled slowly down his arm to his open hand where the tags were dangling precariously; not yet falling just because they were so tangled in his fingers. She closed her fingers around his, securing the tags safely in his palm.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
And for those of you, including CaffineYankee, who want a happy ending anyway. Here ya go. With Love :)