Exit To Eden: Part II

by Gemz

It was eleven by the time Logan crawled out of bed. The dream last night had left him restless for a couple of hours afterwards. Throughout that entire time, he thought of nothing but her. It was five in the morning by the time he got back to sleep.

He crept down to the kitchen in his robe to make himself a cup of coffee. He was trying to avoid Hank. Logan had promised him he・d train in the Danger Room with him that morning. The thought of the Danger Room after what he had experienced the night before made him feel sick. He thought back to weeks following the accident with Jubilee and how he had refused to go in there with anyone else, fearing that it might happen again. As time had gone by, he began to trust himself again when training with others, but the memory still remained.

Logan flicked the switch on the kettle and spooned three teaspoons of instant coffee into his cup. As he waited for the water to boil, he thought about the dream last night.

It wasn・t the first time he had had that dream. He started having this particular dream over and over again for the past three years・ and every time it was the same. He・d see Jubilee running down the stairs towards him and just as she was about to come into his arms, she would disappear. What did it mean? Logan couldn・t understand it at all. It was as bad as all those recurring dreams he had had before about his past- except these ones didn・t effect him physically. These dreams effected him emotionally. And it hurt, badly.

Logan reached behind him to grab the sugar pot.

That・s salt, Logan, a familiar voice in his head warned him. He looked at the object in his hands- it was a salt cellar. He replaced it on the bench and took the sugar pot.

"You wouldn・t want that in your coffee now, would you?" Jean stood in the doorframe, smiling sweetly. As she approached him she asked, "Late night?"

"Could say that. " he answered, spooning two sugars into the cup. Oh great, he thought, this is all I need!

Jean sat down at the kitchen table and gestured Logan to sit in the chair opposite her. Logan stayed where he was, leaning against the kitchen bench. Jean felt frustrated. He always acted like this when there was something he didn・t want to talk about. She guessed that it was something to do with Jubilee. You didn・t have to be telepathic to figure that out. He・d been acting like this from time to time ever since she had left.

"You had that dream again, didn・t you?" Jean asked. Logan hung his head in a way that told Jean that the answer to her question was a definite ・yes.・ Jean shook her head. For Logan to have a life again, he had to forget about what had happened in the past and move on. He managed to do that with everything else that had happened in his life, but this was the one thing that he couldn・t seem to let go of.

"Logan, I know this whole thing with Jubilee leaving has been hard on you, but you have got to let it go. You have got to get on with your life." Jean said, firmly.

Logan, clearly angered by what Jean had just said, replied:

"What if I don・t wanna let it go?! What if I wanna feel like this?! It・s my fault that she left. It・s my fault that we haven・t seen or heard from her in five years, and it・s my fault that she・s not coming back!" Logan stormed out of the kitchen, leaving his coffee on the bench. Logan didn・t care what everyone else said. This whole mess was his burden and he was going to carry it, alone.

Jean stayed in kitchen after Logan・s tirade. She had felt his pain as he was talking about the situation he was in, and realised that she felt a similar way too. She missed Jubilee a lot, but her emotion about it was not as strong as Logan・s. She sighed and got up from the table and went to check Cerebro・s auto-scan. Maybe they would have some luck today.

Logan got dressed and went to see Hank in the lab. Maybe helping Hank would help clear his mind for a while. He didn・t want to think about Jubilee anymore, but he couldn・t help it. How can a person help the way they feel? It・s impossible. It was like trying to predict when a volcano is going to erupt or when an earthquake was going to occur. Jean・s right he told himself, she・s outta ya life now, and it・s about time ya moved on. He walked into the lab to see Hank working busily at one of the computer workstations. Hank heard him enter and turned to see him approach.

"Decided to get out of bed, I see." mused Hank, turning back to what he was doing.

"Sorry ・bout that," Logan said, apologising for the missed training session that morning. He grabbed a chair and straddled over it next to Hank.

"I should think so to. I should be quite angry at you, my friend." He said, not taking his eyes of his work. Logan was curious. When Hank never took his eyes off his work, it must be something either important or exciting.

"Whadda ya working on?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. Hank stopped to explain.

"It・s a programme Jubilation and I were working on before she ・vamoosed・ as it were. It・s designed to bring Cerebro up to an efficiently level of 99%. That means we can track each other and other people over greater distances, and possibly break through anything shielding Cerebro." Logan face dropped slightly at the mention of her name. He・d forgotten that the Professor had assigned her and Hank to bring Cerebro up to the highest level of efficiently. He knew Hank would have to finish the task himself, but didn・t think that he would continue with the work that both of them had done while Jubilee was still with the X-Men.

Hank noticed the sadness in his friend・s expression.

"As it goes, that old saying, ・I believe I have put my foot in my mouth.・ Please forgive me, Logan. I know what you must be thinking."

"It・s all right, Hank." Logan said, dismissing his friend・s efforts to apologise. "It・s about time that I forgot about her. She・s gone and there・s no point going on about it forever. She made the choice to leave and I・"

X-Men, assemble in the War Room immediately. The Professor・s voice boomed in their heads. Logan and Hank got up simultaneously and ran out the door.

By the time they got there, the other X-Men were gathered around Cerebro, waiting for the Professor to speak.

"What・s the emergency?" asked Logan, sitting down next to Remy. The Cajun shrugged,

"Not too sure. Gotta be sumthin・ important if da Professor gotta drag us all down ・ere. Why don・t you ask ・im?" answered Remy, as the Professor prepared to speak.

"No point. Looks like Cyc is already gonna ask the same question."

Prompt as clockwork, Scott piped in;

"What・s going on, Professor?"

"A little while ago, Cerebro accepted an anonymous communication from Genosha." He began to explain. The Professor pressed a button on Cerebro・s control panel that played back the recorded message.

The message was weird and difficult to understand as it played through Cerebro・s audio system. The words were fragmented by static, and the sentences talked about something that made no sense at all.

"Pl_se! Help save E_en! is cal_ng you! Can・t _ou hear _r? Go to Point Zero." it said. The Professor then froze the image, and the X-Men looked at each other, obviously confused.

"It sounds like ・Please! Help save Eden・?" said Storm

"What does it mean, Professor?" asked Rogue, "The whole darn thing makes no sense."

"I have no idea myself, that・s why I called you all here. Whoever sent this message must very well need our help. And whatever this Eden is, we must find out what significance it has in Genosha. Luckily, Jean was able to trace to the co-ordinates from which this message originated. You are to fly to these co-ordinates and a try to help in any way you can." The Professor said.

"Might be someone・s idea of joke. Is there any reason to believe this might be real?" asked Logan. He wasn・t to keen on going on a wild goose chase. Jean walked over to Cerebro・s auto scan.

"Yes we do Logan. You see, when this message came in, Cerebro・s auto scan alerted us that it had found something and the alert disappeared soon after the message broadcast had ended." She explained. Her voice sounded quiet, as if she were in shock.

"So what? Dat could mean anyt・in・?" said Remy.

"No, you don・t understand," Jean said, "When I did a further analysis on the message, I found out that the voice was female・ and that it matched Jubilee・s vocal scans!"

The X-Men looked at each other shock. Logan, however, stared at the floor, deeply engrossed in his thoughts.

Jubilee? Is it really you?

TO BE CONTINUED・