Healing

Chapter 9

He pushed Scott's hair out of his face as they waited. The kid was leaning against him, fast asleep again. They were in the park, waiting for a contact Scott had made on the computer.

Logan knew he should wake the kid up, it wouldn't be a very good first impression that he couldn't keep awake long enough to meet up.

"C'mon kid. Wake up."

No response. The kid really could sleep like the dead. Both amusing and annoying...

"Scott, c'mon. I know it's past your bedtime, but still..."

He got a mumble this time. Logan carefully removed himself from the kid, in the hope that the cold air would wake him. How the hell were you supposed to know if he was awake anyway? He hated those glasses, blocking the kid off from the world.

"Scott. Up."

"Whu-? Oh... Logan..." He yawned and sat up. "Guess I fell asleep again."

His speech was slurred as his mind started functioning normally again.

"You ok, kid?"

"Mmm... must be about 1, is it?"

"Yeah..." And he was getting very bored of waiting. They had been here since 10pm. He really hoped this guy showed, or he was going to be very annoyed.

"Hey..." a deep voice from behind them spoke up. Scott turned slightly, and nodded his head. A short old man sat next to the kid on the bench. "You kids waiting?"

"Sure are..." Scott replied.

"They aren't too far from here. They move a lot, but follow the stream. I'd be careful. They get more of them all the time. Got some proper dangerous mutants too."

"How dangerous? Do you have any information on their mutations?"

"I think they have one or two telepaths. Dunno how strong they are though. Got one lass who's got telekinesis. A fair few fighters too. You kids be careful if you are going after them. Not a nice bunch."

"We will, thanks."

"Here... I got it all written down for you." He handed over a file. "Tell Charles to keep an eye out. I'd hate anything to happen to my old friend."

"Thanks again."

He laughed quietly, the sound was wrong though. "Anything for my friend's son."

The man turned and walked off. Scott was holding the file tightly, staring off into the distance. Logan stood up and stretched, they finally got to go to their beds.

" kid... let's get back."

The two men turned and left the park. Scott stared at the ground the whole way back to the car, something was clearly bothering him. Once they were sat in the car, Logan placed his hands on the steering wheel, but didn't start the ignition.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh?"

"You're moping. We were just getting over that. What's wrong?"

"... I... A woman with telekinesis... Do you think it's Jean?"

"I thought you said Jean is dead..."

"Well, the woman who is sort of like Jean, but not quite."

"Could be. We don't know though, so don't bother making assumptions yet."

Scott frowned, and turned his body away, looking out the window.

"I wish the Professor would explain properly what's going on with her... I'm so confused..."

Logan frowned as well. The professor had done an amazing job of almost telling them stuff, but still avoiding saying what they wanted to know. Logan had been tempted to press him further a few times, but it had obviously caused the old man some pain to think about. He didn't want to focus on anything painful when they were still recovering from so many other problems.

He started the car, and pulled out of their parking space. The ride back was silent, neither man speaking a word.


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The night brought more problems for Scott. As he twisted and whimpered in his bed, Logan silently got out of his own and gathered the kid in his arms. There had only been one night so far where Scott hadn't had nightmares. They'd been here for 4 days now.

Logan hoped that it was the strange environment that brought the terrors. He was used to listening to him mumble though. Jean seemed to talk to him all night, he'd noticed.

"Don't... please... no..."

This was new... he usually just apologised, over and over and over...

"Oh, god... no... Don't... leave me alone."

"Shhh... it's ok... shhh..."

Logan gently rocked Scott.

"Leave me alone..." Scott buried his face into Logan's chest and shook badly. A few moments later, he let out a loud yelp and sat up.

"Oh, god... Logan. I'm sorry. I was at the dam again."

"It's ok, kid. Get back to sleep. You said we had to be up early in the morning, yeah?"

"Yeah... not as early as I used to be. I'm going to have to get back into my old routine I think. Up between half five and six in the morning to do a jog. Before getting breakfast..."

"That's not a good time in the morning."

"It's a lovely time. I always used to get up then. Then I'd jog, eat, mark and then go teach."

Scott tilted his bare face back slightly, and smirked.

"I don't have to listen to any students at that time in the morning."

"That's because the rest of humanity is still in bed."

Scott laughed softly, and curled closer to Logan. He yawned and relaxed again. The older man wanted to object, looking over at his own bed. But he glanced down at Scott, and decided to stay put. Again.

This was definitely weird...


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They followed the stream, in accordance with the old man's claims. It was a long trip though. They'd set out at 7 that morning, and by noon they had come across an old campsite.

Logan sniffed around, as Scott stared at the damage they had left.

"Only gone for about a day or so. They can't be far away."

"Right..."

He straightened up and walked over to the kid.

"We checkin' it out now?"

"Hmm? Oh... yeah. Let's go."

"Jimmy!"

"Victor?"

A man was moving towards them with large strides.

"Jimmy. Pup. How you's doing?"

"Victor... we're good."

"For now."

"Huh?"

He stopped in front of them and stared at Scott.

"Your Pup needs to watch out."

Scott frowned and looked up at him. "Why?"

"That Jean woman is after you. Both sides of her too."

"Both?"

"Yeah... the normal side, where she wants to warn you about something. And then another, incredibly creepy side.

"Creepy?"

"You're a pup, not a parrot... yeah, creepy. She is kinda... well, very actually. She's very possessive of you. Apparently you're gonna marry."

"Before she died, I was."

Scott looked as confused as Logan felt.

"Both sides... so, Jean is sometimes herself?"

"If you mean ones of Xavier's goody-goodies then yeah; But not as often. Eric doesn't seem to do much to help her stay either. Wish he would. She's the best person out of those for holding conversation."

Victor face stretched into a smirk as he explained this. Scott smiled in response. Logan frowned. He felt like he was being left out of some really amusing joke.

"Is she ok? Jean... when she is herself?"

"Yeah... she's fine. Well, she gets upset. Cries a lot for you. Apologises nonstop, which is fucking annoying. Said she's glad you aren't alone though."

A melancholy smile clung to Scott's face. Bittersweet. His bride-to-be isn't as dead as he thought. But she didn't want to see him in case her other self went off it. He watched Scott chat for a while to Victor. It was a while since they had seen the man. Logan had questions for him, but his past seemed so insignificant right now. He wanted to get his present sorted before he returned to worrying about his past.

He moved forward, to bid farewell to his brother once the men had finished speaking.

"I'll be seeing ya, Jimmy."

"Sure."

"See ya Pup."

"Goodbye. And, thank you..."

Victor turned away from them. He walked back to Jean, and Magneto.

Scott was staring at him.

"You ok, kid?"

"Can we go back now? I need to talk with Charles."

Logan nodded, and they made their way back to the car. It was a long hike though; they'd travelled for over 5 hours before they had reached this place. It was quicker going back, and they got to the car after another 3 hours. But Logan was now hungry.

He made a decision to stop off in the town and get something to eat before going back. He didn't want bother Sam and Jenny, the old couple they were staying with. They were going out for a meal together tonight, so he and Scott had agreed that they would go out, or make their own.

He pulled into a car park and stopped.

They sat at a table, and Scott told Logan what he wanted, handing over some money. Logan took it as a hint to go buy food, and went over to the tills. When he came back with their drinks and a receipt, he found Scott on his mobile.

"Why?!"

He sounded quite angry... he was glaring at his cutlery as his hissed into his phone.

It was 20 minutes later that Scott hung up. Their meals had just been put in front of them.

"That man! I can't believe him!"

Scott still seemed really angry.

"Which man?"

"Charles. He knew all along about this other side of Jean. He nearly told me as well. Do you remember? After I saw her at the Lake? We spoke for ages. He still managed to miss the point though. He said he'd blocked some of her power, because she couldn't control it. He didn't bother to say he'd blocked a whole section of her personality."

"What?"

"I was angry enough at the time. He blocked her powers, and took away her ability to perform properly. It affected her confidence you know, how she wasn't as powerful as she felt she could be. I guess she was right."

Scott was ranting. He hadn't said much on the phone. Apparently Xavier was too much like a father for the kid to properly shout at.

"A split personality... no wonder too, if you block part of who you are for so long. I can't believe him. Phoenix... he never felt a need to mention her to either of us. Fucking Hell!!"

Scott had his head in his hands. He was breathing deeply, trying to calm himself down.

"C'mon kid. Your pasta's getting cold..."

Scott raised his head, and stared and Logan for a long moment. Logan smiled. It felt fake on his face, but he hoped it looked ok. The kid gave a weak smile back, and picked up his fork.

"I'm not sure if we should go after them now..." he stabbed a pasta shell and held it in front of his face, before eating it.

"Why not?"

"Victor said she's acting strange. I would like to gather information from Charles about this properly before I act... but if I act to late, what if there is only this phoenix woman left? I wonder how much like Jean she is..."

Logan felt a chill run down his spine. The thought of saving Jean was very tempting. The red head was a wonderful person. She was kind, funny and beautiful. But, if she came back... Scott would leave... he never imagined this would be a problem. His main concern used to be getting rid of Scott. Now though, he liked spending time with his Pup. There was something undeniably comforting about holding the kid close at night. He was even starting to enjoy hearing the kid sing along to everything.

He would lose a lot if she came back. Not everything, he didn't think they'd expect him to leave the school, not after all the effort they'd put into making things work there for him. But if he lost Scott, it would be a big part to lose.

Logan frowned, and came to a firm decision that he needed to talk to Kurt, or 'Ro. Someone to help him get his mind cleared up.

"Maybe we could have a look? But not go too close. Could probably get Victor to tell us anything major they decide, yeah?"

Scott looked at him and smiled. They both returned to eating their dinner. Logan determinedly squashed the doubt quelling inside him.