Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men but I wish I did, especially Wolverine! Hey anyone, my birthday is coming, hint, hint!!!

Missing

CHAPTER 1

Logan pulled up in front of the mansion on the motorcycle that he "borrowed" from Scott when he had left that day so long ago. He'd been gone for a year looking for his past, but all the leads that the Professor had given him came back as dead ends. As he turned off the cycle and started to walk up the stairs to the front door he thought back to the last year or so and the girl he left behind.

He was in the last town he came to sitting at the bar with a beer and one of his cigars. He kept thinking about her and the one thing that kept him going from one dead end after another was the thought of her,"his Marie".

He didn't remember when or where he started thinking of her as "his Marie" and not just "kid" but he now knew that his feelings were more than friendly, especially by the dreams that he was having of her and him together. He was in love with her, not Jean, he only wanted Jean because Scott had her, that was lust not love. But being as stubborn as he was, he could not admit it. It was not in his nature, he never had to take care of anyone but himself. It had always been me, myself, and I. No attachments and no commitments, that's way he had always liked it. But everything changed that night in the bar in Canada when he had first met "her". But he didn't know it at that time.

It was further locked in when they "connected" that first night when she had touched him, she had been just saving herself when she had to absorb some of his "life force" after he had run her through with his claws after waking from one of his "nightmares". He had felt so damned guilty and afraid seeing her impaled on his claws and gasping for air. He also remembered that day in the train station when he told her that he would protect her always, but he found out that he couldn't follow through with his promise. He had been helpless when they were attacked by Magneto.

His feelings for her finally came to the surface when he had held her "dead" body in his arms after the rescuing her from Magneto's damn machine, willing her to come back to him. He was overwhelmed by feelings that he never had before, love and loss. His feelings were cemented when they connected again, almost killing him this time in the process. He was willing to die for her and almost did. Logan was overwhelmed that his feelings ran that deep. His last thought before the blackness was that he loved "his Marie". When he woke up in the medlab and recovered from the mission he fled. He could not face her until he could figure out his feelings and come to terms about their differences. They had so many of them, their ages for one. She was young and fresh; he was old and used. He had no past and could not offer he any kind of future, both being who they were. He was also nothing but an animal in his eyes and how could she love someone like him. He had given her his dog tags and told her he would be back for them. Then he had run like a coward, with the excuse that he was looking for his past. The Professor had said that he could come back anytime he felt ready, that he should think of the school as his home. That was a laugh, he had never stayed long enough in any one place to call it home.

Now after all this time all he could think of is her and getting back to her. He wanted to tell her how he felt and the differences be damned they would make it work one way or the other. He hoped beyond hope that she felt the same way and that she had waited for him. Logan thought Why should she? I never wrote or called, as far as she knows I'm dead He knows that the Professor had been "tracking" him using Cerebro, but he had never entered his mind, knowing full well that Logan needed his privacy to sort things out.

For the last several days he had had a feeling of dread and a nagging thought in that back of his mind that he could not get rid of saying "help us". He knew something was very wrong but he could not put his finger on it, so he hopped on Scott's bike and headed back to the only place that he had ever called home.

The first thing that he had noticed when he came through the gates, was the lack of activity on the grounds, it was too quiet. There were no students on the lawn or on the exercise courts. As Logan walked up the stairs and in the front door he was assaulted with many scents. He could smell fear, sadness, anger but the worst of all was the scent of death. He ran through the mansion to the lower levels. As he approached the medlab the smells were the greatest. He opened the doors. What he saw he could not believe. On several beds in the lab were his friends, people he had come to think of as family (when that happened Logan doesn't know), with others standing around.

On one of the beds was Scott, his visor missing. His eyes were closed. His body had wires and tubes coming out of everywhere. He looked like hell. Standing next to him was Jean, looking no better. She was battered, but still trying to tend Scott in her professional manner. But by the look in her eyes and the slump of her shoulders it looked grim. On another bed was Professor Xavier, his eyes were also closed as if in sleep but he had wires attached to his head hooking him up to a machine. At times his body twitched and the machine made beeping noises. Logan had never seen him looking so worn or fragile.

Standing in the corner off by herself was Ororo (known as Storm). Her white hair was all askew and her black X-men uniform was all torn. She looked as if she was in shock, she was also crying to herself. Logan looked around at all the faces but the one he did not see was Marie. He felt relief that she was not there, that maybe she was somewhere else safe. Logan started to turn around to his friends.

Logan started to ask "What hap……" but stopped.

What finally caught Logan's eye was the body off to the side covered by a bloody sheet. Logan left out a howl, not stopping or caring to say anything to the others, he approached it with a feeling of dread. With a lump in his throat and thinking of the things he would never be able to tell her or not being able to ever hold her (her poison skin be damned, he would have found a way.) He slowly pulled back the bloody sheet.

Preparing for the worst and with tears in his eyes, Logan looked into the battered and dead face of. . . . Bobby! Logan thought I know it's not right but all he felt was a sense of relief that it was not "his" Marie. But then another fear came over him. He looked around again and as he did this, Logan let out a growl and yelled to the others

"What happened here? Where is Rogue? WHERE THE HELL IS MARIE??!"

TBC