Time to move on...

[Logan]

Logan thrashed in his sleep, his sleeping mind refusing to grant him sanctuary. A low moan escaped his lips as he relived Alcatraz yet again.

Logan looked around at the destruction that Jean was causing with her mind. He knew that there was only one way to stop the chaos but the knowledge didn't make it any easier. He took a step towards Jean, his legs moving of their own will.

"Jean, I know you're still there!"

His words brought her attention directly to him and instantly he could feel the assault from Jean's telekinesis as she attempted to tear him apart at the atomic level. The pain was intense as whole sections on his skin and muscles were destroyed only to reform a second later. His uniform did not fare as well. Every step that he took brought a renewed assault. After an eternity, Logan found himself almost nose to nose with Jean.

"You would die for them?"

"No. Not for them. For you. For you."

Somewhere within the Phoenix, Logan's words reached deep and found what remained of the woman that he loved. Her features softened slightly and suddenly Jean was in control. Tears fell from her eyes and Logan's resolve wavered.

"Save me."

Her tortured words told Logan all that he needed to know. Jean was lost within her own mind. The Phoenix was in complete control now and Jean would never regain the control.

"I love you."

'snikt'

Without hesitating, Logan drove his claws into Jean's torso, killing the woman that he loved even as he saved the world from a monster.[/i]

Logan awoke with a scream locked within his throat. His claws unsheathed themselves as he leaped from the bed. For a fleeting moment, Logan was still on Alcatraz.

As Logan realized where he was, he took a slow breath and held it. He could feel his heart rate gradually slowing back to normal. He let out his breath slowly, feeling slightly shaky.

"No more. This is getting out of hand. Too many memories here. I think that it might be time to move on."

[angeleyes]

It'd been a fairly boring, typical day for Lorna and she was trying to wear down her active mind so that she could actually get to sleep at a decent time. So after running a couple of laps around the grounds earlier, she'd taken a long, hot shower and dressed in the most comfortable pj's she had. A cotton pair of faded purple shorts with little white rosebuds printed on them and a tank top with the same pattern. It was obviously a pair of well loved pajamas.

With a mug of hot herbal tea at her side and a book that she'd been wanting to read in her hands, Lorna slipped under her covers to read until her eyes couldn't stay open. It was a ritual she'd done too often of late and fairly common as the anniversary of Adam's death approached. It had been suggested to her a couple of times, by well meaning friends, that she might want to look into therapy but the idea of opening up about her personal life to a stranger just didn't appeal to her at all.

So Lorna trudged on, burying the pain of her past by concentrating on the present. She was so grateful for being allowed at the school and now that her powers were much more under control then they used to be, she felt like she had finally found a place that she belonged. Sure, she wasn't as experienced as some of the other X-Men who had been here much longer but she also wasn't one of the students. In fact, they only reminded her that she really needed to finish her college degree one of these days. It would have been important to Adam that she had...

The scream of rage from across the hall caught Lorna's attention immediately and she froze, simply listening. When more noise followed it just seconds later, she threw back her covers and moved to the door, opening it and waiting to see who's room it had come from. Whoever it was, they didn't sound human at that very moment...

Suddenly, her powers buzzed in the back of her head as she was quite aware of him extending his claws. Had someone broken into Logan's room? What was going on in there? Grasping the door handle, it didn't budge so she used a tiny bit of her magnetic powers to force the knob to turn, not enough to harm the metal boned man inside.

The door flung open and what Lorna saw was not what she expected. Instead of there being an intruder, signs of forced entry into the room through the window or something, there was just Logan, muttering to himself and looking like he'd been dealing with demons as well.

“Logan?” she asked, suddenly uncertain. “Are you all right? I thought someone had entered your room and was attacking you...”

[Logan]

“Logan? Are you all right? I thought someone had entered your room and was attacking you...”

Logan spun towards the voice before he even registered the words. Logan's claws reflected the light from the hallway, his body trying to attack even as his mind restrained himself. The woman standing in the doorway had long, curly hair. For a fleeting second, Logan thought that Jean stood before him but than he noted the greenish halo that surrounded the woman's hair.

"I'm OK, Lorna. Just a bad dream."

Calmed down, he looked back at his bed, unsurprised at the tattered material that had been his cover. He looked down at his hands, realizing that his claws had never retracted.

Weird. They usually retract on their own.

The claws obediently retracted as Logan moved across the room. He flipped on the light switch, bathing the room in 40 glorious watts. He padded across the room to his closet and pulled out a white tshirt and slipped it on. He started to remove his sweatpants but stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"I'm not the shy type but I am changing. If you wanna come in fine if not, stay in the hall but the door needs to be closed."

[angeleyes]

Logan turned and gave her what Lorna could only describe as a very wild, very disoriented look. In fact, she wondered who he was looking at because for as long as she'd known him, he'd never looked at her like that before. Lorna was about to turn and see who was behind her when he suddenly seemed to snap out of whatever it was.

"I'm OK, Lorna. Just a bad dream,"[/b] he told her.

That had to have been a hell of a dream considering what she'd heard all the way to her own room. Glancing over at his bed, Lorna noticed the shredded covers and bit her lip. Poor guy. He'd never said anything to her about Jean but she'd heard along the way just what he'd done. And how he'd felt. It was one thing they had in common. They'd both watched someone they loved die a horrific death.

The movement of his claws drew her attention back to Logan as she could feel the change in the air when the metal disappeared. It was strange how he affected her powers like that but the man's bones were covered in the stuff so it probably shouldn't have been too surprising. He was almost like a lightning rod where her powers were concerned.

The light came on and she blinked a few times, batting away the sudden brightness in the room. She'd only been there a moment or so but already her eyes had adjusted to the dimness that'd been there.

Without really looking, she watched as Logan threw on a t-shirt and suddenly tugged at his pants. Lorna's eyes widened as she seemed to be frozen to the spot like Bobby had played a prank on her and rooted her to the floor. He turned at that second and looked her directly in the eyes. "I'm not the shy type but I am changing. If you wanna come in fine if not, stay in the hall but the door needs to be closed."[/b]

That snapped her out of whatever it was she'd been in. Backing up slowly, she gave him a weak smile and replied, “Well, if you're okay, I'll just go back to my room and finish my book. If you, um, need to talk at all, feel free to stop by,” she finished lamely. Like Logan would be looking to her to listen to his problems when he had someone like Ororo or Marie.

Taking one last step out of his room, she turned on her heel and closed his door. Opening her own, Lorna walked back to her bed and sat on the edge, book in hand. However, she didn't get into bed immediately, instead her mind on the man across the hall and the sort of dream he'd had to have had to cause such destruction.

[Logan]

Logan waited until the door clicked shut before removing his sweatpants. he left them on the floor as he pulled a faded pair of blue jeans on.

That girl has got to learn to lighten up. In this place, she'd end up like...

Logan's thought stopped as an image of Scott popped into his mind. He remembered the last time that he'd seen him. Their words hadn't exactly been very friendly.

"I need a beer. Too bad that I don't have any here."

Logan sat down on the edge of his bed, absently tugging on his boots. He'd been at the school, taking students through the Danger Room time and time again. He'd worked them hard, trying to prepare them for the day that they'd be forced to make his decision. It was wearing him down, being in the same place for so long.

He stood up, his hand grabing his wallet and a set of keys from his nightstand. He turned off the lights as he closed the door. He crossed the hall and knocked on Lorna's door.

"Ms. Dane. It's Logan. I'm going into town. Would you like to come with me?"

[angeleyes]

She hadn't been sitting there, mulling things over for very long before the knock came on her door and caused her to jump. Her book fell out of her hands and hit the floor with a thud as she heard, "Ms. Dane. It's Logan. I'm going into town. Would you like to come with me?"[/b]

Lorna walked to the door and opened it to find him there, all dressed and looking like he had something very heavy on his mind. Well, she had offered to listen if he wanted to talk. She'd just assumed it would have been in her room, though. He was dressed casually so she nodded and replied, “Yeah, sure, give me a minute to get dressed.”

Without bothering to invite him in while she changed, because she did mind who was looking at her with no clothes on, Lorna closed the door again and walked over to her closet. Pulling out a pair of well loved, dark blue jeans that fit low around her hips and a t-shirt in a nice, dark purple that complimented her hair color rather then clashed with it, she changed quickly. Throwing on a pair of comfortable tennis shoes without socks, Lorna ran a brush through her hair and decided to forgo the make up. Wasn't like she needed to look nice for Logan. He'd seen her at her worse on more then one occasion.

Grabbing a few bucks and her credit card and drivers license, Lorna tucked them into her back pocket and opened the door a few moments later. Closing the door to her room behind her, she locked it with her powers, a bad habit she'd developed since living here, and gave Logan a grin. “So, where are we off to?” she asked in a quiet voice to keep from waking anyone else that was sleeping.

[Logan]

“Yeah, sure, give me a minute to get dressed.”

Logan watched Lorna close the door before moving to lean against the wall. He slowly counted off the seconds. He'd reached 180 when the door opened and Lorna stepped into the hall. For a second, he was struck by the way that she looked and the speed that she'd gotten ready at.

“So, where are we off to?”

"You're a quick one ain'tcha? Marie takes at least fifteen just to get dressed. As for where we're goin', I know this bar about ten miles up the road. It's a bit rough but I think we can handle it."

Logan and Lorna started walking towards the stairs, neither making much noise. The two reached the top of the stairs, Logan feeling the silence in an uncorfortable way.

"You look nice Lorna. Maybe too nice for the bar I had in mind. Why don't you pick the place instead."

OOC: Sorry but time is short. If you wanna wait, I'll add more. If you wanna go ahead and post, I won't mind.

[angeleyes]

Continued in: Seedy Shacks