/.../ Indicates flashback

It was the kind of place that you could find on the cover of National Geographic. Pure and undisturbed. Tall, dark pine-trees, hugging
their needle covered branches close to them, half-heartedly trying to hide from the ever-present snow. Large, soft snowflakes, sailing
through the air, softly caressing the trees before they reached the ground and became part of the heavy, white blanket that covered the world.

A weak wind played among the trees, ruffling the fur of the lone, female wolf that had dared to venture out in the cold evening. She
lifted her head, sniffed once, then twice, but found no sign of danger. Satisfied, she returned to watching her young cubs playing in
the snow.

In the downside of the wind, a bit away, two silent figures watched the lone huntress and her offspring from the porch of an old cabin. They were covered by several thick, dark brown blankets to keep the cold and the biting wind out, and sat quite close to each other - this, however, not because of the cold, but more because they felt like it.

The smaller of the figures sighed.

"It's beautiful," she breathed.

"Told ya so, darlin'," her companion replied, no completely able to keep the smug satisfaction out of his voice.

"It's everything I imagined it to be...how'd ya find this place?" Rogue asked and looked at Logan.

Logan shrugged.

"'Bout five years ago, I kicked some guy's ass in a fight. The fucker didn't have the cash, so he gave me the papers to this place instead. I used to come here when I wanted to be alone."

Rogue smiled a bit lazily, and felt the warmth of blankets surround her body.

"Well, I'm glad we came up here. It's been too long since I've had the chance to just calm down an' relax."

Logan sighed and stroked her hair soothingly.

"I know. I know..."

/...Sabretooth growled and lashed out, and hit his challenger with the full force of the blow. Logan was thrown through the air and
landed hard on the statue, losing his breath momentarily. He heard a growl and quickly spun around, barely in time to avoid another blow.

The two adversaries slowly circled each other, carefully watching for even the slightest warning of an impending attack. Time slowed down, came to almost a complete halt, and Logan felt the adrenaline burn its way through his veins.

"Help me!"

The scream tore thought the night, instantly alerting Logan to the fact that revenge would have to wait. Tonight, Marie was his first
priority.

The last bit of Logan's patience snapped, and finally, the Wolverine was completely free.

With a furious roar, he leaped at his enemy, driving all six metal claws deep into Sabretooth. It wasn't as much a fight, as it was a
slaughter - Sabretooth was caught completely by surprise by Wolverine's sudden aggressiveness, and against this enemy, he didn't
stand a chance.

Wolverine pulled out his claws, but didn't give Sabretooth any time to recover from the attack. A deep slash across the abdomen, then a swipe through the neck, almost deep enough to decapitate the blond mutant. A well-place kick, and Sabretooth found himself falling towards the ground with a frightening speed.

Wolverine retracted his claws. He didn't care whether or not Sabretooth had survived the fall. Only one thing mattered - Marie.

He had to find his mate.../

"Do ya think we made the right choice?"

The question was asked in all seriousness, and Logan raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" he asked. "Does it matter?"

There was no spite in his voice, no arrogance, no anger. Just plain, honest curiosity. Rogue shrugged slightly and rested her head on his shoulder, pulling the warm blanket closer around her. Logan arched an eyebrow, then put his arm around her shoulders. Rogue sighed contentedly and snuggled closer.

"Not really...I'm just curious," she finally admitted.

Curiosity. Logan could understand that, so he nodded slightly, but remained silent.

"So? Do ya?" Rogue asked.

"Think we made the right choice?"

Rogue nodded, and Logan shrugged.

"I think so, yeah. If Scooter wanna run around an' play superhero, then fine by me. But I didn't ask to get involved in their shit,
y'know. The only reason I helped 'em was to save ya. New York coulda gone to hell for all I care."

"Logan!" Rogue swatted him playfully. "Behave!"

"What? Just tellin' the truth, darlin'. We don't owe 'em anything, ya know," he reminded her.

Rogue sighed.

"I know, it's just...sometimes I wonder if we shoulda stayed an' helped 'em. They're fightin' for a good cause."

"Marie..."

Logan turned her head gently so he looked her in the eyes.

"Call me selfish if ya want, but I don't wanna see ya with the X-geeks. Sure, they're heroes, but heroes get killed. Marie, I lost ya
on that Statue."

Rogue tried to look away, but found that she couldn't tear herself away from Logan's intense gaze.

"I lost ya, darlin'. Ya weren't breathing when I found ya, an'...fuck, it felt like someone'd torn my heart out! I can't go through that again...an' we both know that it woulda happened if we'd stayed with Scooter and his gang."

Rogue sighed.

"I know," she whispered and closed her eyes.

/..."Marie!"

Logan unsheathed his claws and slashed his way through the remains of the strange contraption, stopping only to kick a twisted piece of metal out of his way. Finally he found her, unmoving, and cuffed to two solid metal poles.

"Marie!" he tired again, but as before, he was met only by silence.

Acting solely on instinct, Logan cut through the restraints and carefully lowered the girl to the ground. He kneeled beside her and
started his frantic search for some sign that she was still alive.

"Marie, damnit! Wake up!"

Logan knew it would be hard to feel a possible heartbeat through his thick gloves, and instead he relied on his hearing to guide him. With the ease that comes only with practice, he ignored the X-Men far below him, the wind and the sounds of Liberty Island, and focused solely on the girl in front of him.

Nothing. No breathing, no heartbeat.

Ignoring the rational part of his mind that screamed at him to stop, Logan did the only thing he could think of.

He kissed her.

He knew from experience that it hurt like hell to touch her, but the pain that assaulted him was like nothing he'd ever experienced. It
ran through his veins, biting deep into his muscles, but Logan forced back the howl of pain. He looked at Marie to find new strength...and only then did he realize that the pain didn't come from her touch.

A new wave of pain tore through his body, and his last conscious thought was that he should have killed Magneto when he had the
chance.../

"It wasn't yer fault," Rogue protested gently.

"I shoulda protected ya, darlin'. I promised I'd protect ya, but I fucked up. Fuck! Why do the geeks always try to save their enemies?! I shoulda-"

"There was nothin' ya coulda done," Rogue repeated. "Nothin'. Don't ever forget that..."

/..."Jean?"

The voice sounded almost inappropriately loud in the sterilized medlab. He shouldn't talk so loud, Jean thought. But then...he didn't
know. He'd waited impatiently outside while Jean and Hank worked and had yet to feel the bitter taste of failure in his mouth. Jean
briefly wondered if Xavier knew, but was too tired to care.

She sent Hank a look, and the blue-furred doctor nodded, then left. They both knew that Scott would probably prefer to hear the bad news from Jean.

"Jean?" Scott repeated; this time a bit more concerned.

Jean took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, trying to calm herself. Another deep breath, and only then did she open her eyes to face her concerned fiancé.

"We lost them," she whispered. "We lost them.".../

The lone wolf raised her head again and scanned the surroundings for any potential dangers. Her watchful eyes rested momentarily on the empty porch nearby, then continued their careful search. Finally convinced that no dangers were lurking in the dark forest, the wolf returned to her cubs, making sure that none of them would get into any trouble.

And from the old porch behind her, the two spirits watched.

*      *      *
End
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A/N: Return of the Author's Notes!: The fic that partially inspired this was Terri's 'It's A Wonderful (After) Life'. I highly recommend
it, btw (along with the rest of Terri's fics :)