She rolled her eyes and examined the blue-fuzz outlined dent in the second bed that had been Kurt.  "Where'd he go?"

"Vending machines.  Kid's already had 'bout eight bucks worth of chocolate, but apparently he wanted some more."

"You let him go by himself?"

A shrug.  "Why not?  He'll be fine, Rav.  He's not going ta die of a broken heart."

"I'm still standing." she replied, quietly.  "Doesn't mean I'm 'fine'."

"And what do ya want from me?  An apology?  D'ya want me ta say sorry, Rav?"

"Might be a start." she snapped back, perhaps with a little more venom then she intended.

"Why?  'Sorry' is a waste of breath, Mystique.  It's a hollow, ugly, word."

"Not if you mean it."

"No-one ever means it, darlin'.  You're more naïve than yer boy, sometimes."

"And you're just bitter, Logan."

"You ever kill anyone, Raven?"

"What sort of question is that?"

He lit up a cigar; sent a puff of smoke in the direction of the 'please do not smoke' sign.  "One that requires a yes or no answer."

"Yes, but you knew that already."

"Up close?"

"What sort of perverse…"

"Yes or no, Raven.  You always use that gun you're so fond of, or have you ever used yer hands, a knife?"

"No," she answered, faltering.  "Never up close."

Another puff of smoke joined the cloud – he must have disconnected the smoke alarm. 

"The smell of blood clings to the skin.  Ya can try as hard as you like to get rid of it, but it'll stay there until it's good and ready to leave.  I always know a man that's killed, because of the smell.  Old blood smells like rotting meat, Rav, like the grave."

He exhaled, examining the cigar he held.  "That's the first smell I can remember, because that's the smell that was on me when I woke up."

If she was surprised by that admission, she didn't show it.

He shrugged.  "I suppose I could hope that whoever it was, they deserved it.  Musta done something ta piss me off, right?  Some hikers, they found me.  Dragged me outta the snow, up ta some cabin of theirs.  Roads were closed, snowed in.  Probably thought I was gonna die.  Bet I surprised them. The woman – I can't remember her name – she smelt like roses."

For a second he paused, as if searching for a distant memory.

"I killed her."

Raven could keep silent no longer.  "Why?...  They were…"

"Trying to help me?  I don't remember why, Rav.  She probably forgot the basic rule: ya don't corner an injured animal.  I ran through the snow fer a couple days, and by the time I got to a road I remembered what cars were for.  Never looked back."

There was a long silence.

"Was that supposed to be an apology?"

"No, darlin'.  Just a truth.  More honest than an apology."

She sighed, as if despairing of him.  "Shouldn't Kurt be back by now?"

As they rounded the corner Logan suddenly took off at speed towards the vending machines, swearing loudly.  In front of the chocolate machine was a small patch of blood and blue fur; the wall was damaged as well, cracks radiating outwards from a large hole.

"Arclight and Scalphunter." he hissed.  "Plus one other.  It's Sinister."

"What is that?" asked Sinister, as they entered the lab, the unconscious blue mutant slung over Scalphunter's shoulder.