TITLE- Wolverine: The Crow AUTHOR- candy aka candylynn E-MAIL ME- darksydelady@aol.com RATING-R DISCLAIMER-I don't own anyone in the story. NOTES- This story is for 'niceyetdistrubted', I hope you finish your Crow epic soon. :D At the start of this story, Jubilee is 18, Amiko is 15 and Logan is just Logan. Enjoy. Two years from now... The man known as Logan quietly sat in his tiny little livingroom, in his tiny little house, in the huge city of Tokyo. On the quiet side street called Kobe Alley he and his girls, Jubilee and Amiko, had carved out a life. A choaic, adventurous, and sometimes dangerous life, but a life none the less. His mind drifted to the day he decided to leave his home with the X-Men and relocate to Tokyo to finally take on his responsibilities to Amiko, his adopted daughter. Not long after that Jubilee showed up. He tried, honest he did, to send her back home to Massachuetts. But Jubilation Lee is nothing if not stubborn; that paired with the fact that she had him wrapped around her little finger anyway, convinced him to let her stay. It took time, but he worked out the details with a rather irrate Emma and Charles and she finished school long distance, via the internet. For two years now Wolverine fought every low life, scumbucket in Asia trying to stop his 'wife' Viper from completely taking over the Asian Underworld, a situation that would position the bitch to over run other crime families and organizations worldwide. But not tonight, ESPN had a killer lineup on, he had a case of real Canadian beer and his two favorite ladies. Utter joy. Thank God for satillite tv. Flopping down on the sofa he narrowed his eyes in an attempt to speed up his eye's adjustment to the harsh light of the tv. Outside a horrid rainstorm washed clean the entire neighborhood. Smiling slightly, he appriciated the monsoon season in Japan, lowlifes hated the rain. Nothing should ruin this evening. In a flash, he saw two slinder bare legs with socked feet leap over the back of the sofa. Jubilee landed right next to him and snuggled close, instinstively he wrapped his right arm around her. Amiko hopped over the left arm of the leather sofa and slide across both Jubilee and Logan's legs coming to rest with her head in his lap and facing the tv. Amazingly neither of the ladies spilled any of their popcorn in the effort. The game came to an end and Logan found both of his loved ones were quietly sleeping. Peace,that was what this was, utter peace. Their sweet smells were intoxiating, especially Jubilee's. He rested his cheek on top of her head and turned off the tube. With no lights on anywhere else in the house he enjoyed the blessed dark and the calming sounds of the rain outside and the sleepy breathing of his family inside. Amiko twisted slightly, allowing him better access to Jubilee who was wrapped tight in his thick arms. He had, for years, allowed the young woman to control him, care for him, even chasize him. She was his saving grace, having saved him from himself too many times to count, now... Now she was... Logan brushed away the thought, it was wrong to see her that way, to wantto love her like that. WRONG, plain and simple. She was his best friend and partner, if not for her he was sure Amiko would have run rough shot over him. While he was more than capable of dealing with the teen's emotional probleams and shower her with love and attention, it was those day in and day out things he had trouble with. Talking to her about slipping grades, her faze of wearing hardy anything at all, boys and dating...especially boys and dating. Jubilee amazingly quickly came in and took on those duties herself acting like a big sister/mother to Amiko. Logan was more than grateful, much more. It was late, Logan had indulged in his ladies long enough, time for bed. First he carried Amiko up, then returned for Jubilee. Craddling her as safely as he could he walked up the narrow staircase and entered her tiny little room, thank goodness she finally learned the importance of cleaning her room else he would have tripped and dropped the girl...woman. He laid her down in her bed and was about to turn to leave when, "Logan." her sleepy voice called. Logan? She never called him that, not unless something was wrong. He rushed to her bedside fearing that indeed there was a problem, but found her smiling. "Darlin' what's wrong?" he asked brushing a rough finger across her the softness of her face. She said nothing, but actions speak louder than words. In a single graceful motion, she sat up, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, like he had never been kissed before. The sweetness of her breath mixed with the taste of his beer, it was fitting. She didn't care either, an he didn't stop this. Before he could gain control, her yellow t-shirt was on the floor with her white panties and bra. His jeans were down around his knees, the kiss only continued. He loved her it was all he could see, taking her and showing her just how much was all he wanted to do. He tried to stop himself, really, but this felt too right, to perfect. He pulled away slightly giving her one last chance to change her mind. One last chance to wise up... only thing was this was the wisest thing she'd ever done. Logan's eyes slowly pulled apart. The grey light of the street lights on this rainy nght washed the room in an errie light. He knew the room, only it wasn't his. Rolling, he found Jubilee peacefully sleeping next to him, actually almost under him. The memory of their passionate act washed over him. He expected to feel regret, but there was none, only peace. PEACE!! And a great deal of love. He loved her more now then he did before they made love, that was new. He took her in his arms, she didn't stir at all. Too tired from the effort of keeping up with him and his 'abilities'. He buried his head in her shoulder, fighting tears of joy. Not only did he know that she was his, but he had been her first. It was silly and slightly macho, but there was something to be said for a lady who saved herself for the man she truly loved. And Jubilee truly loved Logan. Energy, he had too much energy. He wanted to take her again, but she was exhausted. No, go for a walk, he told himself. The rain would cool him off. He slipped out her...their bed and dressed in complete silence. He took one last look at her, kissed her on her pink lips and left out. He bounced down the steps, finding Amiko at the bottom with a sandwich and a soda on her way into the livingroom. As he passed her, she giggled and tossed him a happy look. The little minx knew and approved. He shock his head, this was too much. He was so damn happy it hurt. The walk was quiet, he was soaked of course, but it didn't seem to matter. He was finally happy and he be damned if he wanted to change anything. By four in the morning he knew it was time to go home, take a shower, change his clothes...well maybe only if Jubilee was still sleep. He had an inching that she had recovered. As he rounded the corner onto the narrow street where his home was, a cold shrill like scream alerted him to trouble. Then his mind realized it was Amiko. "God no," he saw two black clad ninja in the tree just infront of his home, watching for trouble. With a start he ran towards the house. He got no further than the front gate when he saw Amiko laying outside in a bloody pool she wasn't moving, hardly breathing. "NOOOO!!" he yelled to the ninja lording over her with a bloody sword. He leapted over the small wooden gate just as one of the two ninja in the tree, silently dropped down from his perch. With one punch Logan sent him sailing through the air and into the house through the livingroom window. Another scream, from inside the house, "JUBILEE!" he yelled. In a flash of lightening he saw her run out the house, a ball of pink energy tossed over her shoulder. It exploded in the face of yet another ninja. She slide on the slick wet step just out the door landing on her bare bottom, only her yellow t-shirt covered her. Her head hit the bottom of the door way dazing her. He lifted Amiko off the ground and moved towards his beloved, but a force wrapped around his head like a vice grip. "Play nice Runt," the manacially familiar Voice of Victor Creed piped through Logan's mind. He had to get free Amiko was dying, he could smell two others and... "Good Morning, Husband," Viper hissed as she emerged from the house. The venomous crimelord snatched Jubilee up by her hair. Logan fought with every ounce of berzerker rage he had he clawed and fought to gain his freedom, but Creed held him with a strength he had no right to have. "I am sorry little one once you saved my life, but I can not extend the same curtesy to you." Viper withdrew a small si sword from behind, resting it on Jubilee's neck she jerked the blade across the young woman's soft skin. "NOOOOO!" Scream was all Logan could do as he watched a vail of crimsom pour down Jubilee's neck and taint her yellow shirt. Viper pushed the young woman to the ground and nodded. A white pain hit Logan from the neck. A kind of pain he had never known, he could hear the sounds of his own flesh ripping apart. The noise of bending twisting metal, as Victor Creed twisted Logan's adamantium bonded neckbones apart, clang out like a bell. Logan voice screamed his anguish and pain. The finally there was silence, followed by a thud. Viper stepped over the bodies of the Logan Family, a chilling snicker welled up and out into the cold early morning air. Taking Creed by his blood arm, she walked out of the gate followed by the her personal guard the SEVEN. Jubilee's eyes rolled open. Her sight was bury, but she could make out Logan's bulk as he lay on top on Amiko's broken body. Heart sick, Jubilation Lee dragged herself across the lawn finally reaching the two most important people in her life, Jubilation rested her chin on Amiko's head and clutched Logan's hand then allowed herself to slip away into the white light. One Year later.... "AHHHHH!!!" Amiko's painful wail heraled to the world that she was awake to suffer through another day, after another sleepless night of shattered dreams and nightmares. Blindly, her hand rumaged through the drawer of her nightstand. Withdrawing a needle and a small bottle, Amiko found relief from her suffering in the form of the drug 'acid' a combination of heroine and opium. By noon she was on her normal corner, wet and cold. It was the rainy season again. By midnight she'd sucked, screwed, and spanked enough men to gather the yen she would need to replinish her low supply of the drug, her crutch, the thing that got her through the day and knocked her to sleep at night. She stalked down the still busy streets to the last place she needed to be, the cemetary where her 'parents' were buried. Flopping down on the cold moist earth she gazed at the slick marbel head stone that read in both Japanese and English: Jubilation Lee Logan 1984 - 2002 2002 In Death As In Life, Together The words tore her heart apart. In the wonderous two years she was given with them she had everything a girl could ask for, love. Her 'father and mother', showered her with it and anything else she wanted. Now she had nothing. The rain washed over her terrorifyingly thin frame; she withdraw a dirty needle from her bright red purse and gave herself a much needed fix. The world spun around her, the sounds of cars splashing into deep pools of water in the road seemed so distant now. Yes, it was coming, sleep and maybe if she was lucky...death. A bird, a black crow squawked then gracefully landed on the headstone of the double grave. Amiko peered up at it through her drug induced haze and laughted. she yelled, but it remained. Sucking her teeth just a Jubilee had taught her, she again fumbled with the bottle of 'acid' and the needle. Another dose, more relief, finally death...it would be over. She could feel the pinch of the needle, then..."AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" A vice grip wrapped around the wrist of her hand haulting her from fully inserting the metal into her bruised and blackened vein. She looked down at the white knuckles of her attacker, her eyes roamed over the back of his harry hand and down to his arm which stuch halfway up out of the ground. She was hysterical, her hallusionations were always so real but this was incredible. The mud that she rested on began to bulge and ripple. She yanked her arm away from her captore and began to run for her very life. She turned her head to see how far away her attacker was. He stood over her 'parent's' grave like the demon she accused him of being. The onyx black bird that had been resting on the headstone took flight, swooping and dancing in front of her face. She could hear him, it, running through the mud towards her, but the damn bird prevented her from advancing, from escaping him. She could feel a cold wet arm snake around her waist and pull her close. She screamed, surely it was a Demon coming to take her tortured soul to hell. Hadn't she suffered enough, would she now be made to pay for her humble crimes that she had commited since they died too? "Darlin'," was all he whispered in her ear. He lossened his grip, allowing her to turn to face him. She backpedalled away from him, losing her footing she slipped to the ground ripping her already nonexistant tight red dress. Amiko's tyrate was not directed at him but a God she hardly believed in anymore, if she ever did. A soft flash of lightening illuminated his face; his skin was a pale snowy white complexion, there was a bitter burned darkness around his once kind yet intense eyes. His hair that had always been drawn up into points was now long and dangling with a slight wave to it. And around his neck a thick dark line. She turned away as the memory of his decapitated body pulsed into her mind's eye. He reached down and yanked her to her feet by her bare arm, the needle still dangled out of her. A rush of visions overwhelmed him. A glimpse of happiness from when Jubilee took Amiko shopping for gifts and clothing, the nights they spent on the sofa all curled up watching tv, the painful hours they spent trying to teach Jubilee Japanese. As the lightspeed memories moved forward in time, the night her life 'ended' became clear and focused for him. She watched him leave the house for his walk. She jogged up the steps and found Jubilee asleep in her room. Climbing into bed with her 'mother', Jubilee awake and they talked about everything from Logan to babies to what she was going to make for breakfast, then they both heard the crach of breaking glass. Amiko, being the most hotted of the pair, dashed out the room first. Following, Jubilee almost had a heart attack when she saw Amiko hoisted several feet in the air by her neck. From the top of the steps, Jubile launched a hailstorm of paffs, hitting the girl's attacker. Amiko got to her feet. "Run Mickey, get Logan!!!" Jubilee ordered. Doing as told Amiko flung open the door only to find a tall slinder ninja standing there. Without a word or warning he thrusted an eigthteen inch sword into her gut. Jubilee screamed and jumped the steps. Another ninja appeared from the darkness and a fight between them insued. Amiko pushed herself off the sword and dropped to the ground, the ninja watched with a sickening amount of pleasure as Amiko crawled yelling as loud as she could for her father, finally settling on just yelling in pain. Finally the girl hadn't the strength to move another inch and laid still on the sidewalk. The world went dark, then Amiko could feel herself being lifted off the ground into safe loving arms of her father. But to her horror she could see through narrowed eyes, Jubilee's neck ripped open by the green whore known as Viper. Soon a bath of blood washed over her as well. With what little strength she had she turned her head. But could nothing. Her body slowly fell to the ground and Logan's massive bulk landed on top of her. There was a thud, then his decapitated head rolled into her line of vision. She had wanted to scream, but she hadn't the strength. A large man dressed in orange and brown with a blonde mane of hair then escorted Viper away to a waiting limo and the seven Ninja that attacked them followed behind. The limo drove off, Amiko began to cry, until she felt, Jubilee's head rest against her's. She watched her 'mother's' hand interlock with her 'father's', then all went black. The next day Amiko awake in a hospital bed, the doctors told her that both Logan and Jubilee died at the scene. It was the pressure of Logan's weight that had stopped her from bleeding to death. Wolverine literally tossed the girl to the side as the pain of his beloved ladies overwhelmed him. But now he knew, he knew who he was going to kill, and kill he would. Amiko watched him stalk passed her like a possessed warrior on his way to the killing fields of battle. The black bird that had detained her flew to it's newest ward and landed on his shoulder. A smile light up her broken face, as she got to her feet and gave chase. The sametime Westchester New York... "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Jean Grey Summers' body literal launched it's out of her bed and on to the floor. She cold feel something so hateful roaming the Earth it terrorifed her to no end. Her breathing continued to speed up, she could feel hell in the form of a deadly man, a man she knew. As the intial shock passed, she pulled herself to her feet. "Chere you alright?" Gambit demanded from the other side of her bedroom door. "Yes Remy..." she said messaging her temples, "C'mon in." Her fridged voice was not the pleasant invite Gambit had hoped for, but when he saw her getting to her feet and finally standing upright with a look of dread plastered onto the graceful features of her face, he knew something was wrong. "Chere Gambit get the Professor." "NO!" She barked, "He already knows about this, oh god how can this be, was his death truly that...oh god how?" Gambit helped the widow Summers back to bed. "What Chere, you can tell Gambit?" "Wolverine, Gambit, Wolverine is back..." The Cajun's black and red eyes held no surprise at her proclaimation of their dead team mates return, none at all. "We gonna to Japan Chere, nobody but me an' you. Don't tell de others, dey jus' worry. Charles is too sick to go. Logan is out for blood non?" "YES, but..." "No, butts Chere. I kno' what he is now and being de man he was, dis ain't gonna be pretty Chere." Gambit patted her on her leg and told her to pack a few things and meet him at the minijet in fifteen minutes. Tokyo... A brilliant glass and steel architectural wonder called the Nogani International Headquartes now dominated the Tokyo skyline. From the outside, Nogani was the world leader in shipping and trading. By land, air or sea, Nogani could get it there. But for those in the know Nogani was a slim pit, the world headquaters for the undesputed Queen of the underworld called Viper. "Creed I truly hope you will recover from my fun soon, I *ahem* have another pleasurable idea," Viper hissed to her lover as he lay almost comatose in their bed. Smiling she knew the small amount of toxin she pumped him with would not kill him, thanks in part ot his healing factor. She reached into a small wooden box next to his bed and recovered a small vile and a needle, her controlling mechinism over Creed was a special form of 'Acid'. He needed a fix every twenty four hours or pain would literally kill him. A cheap way to keep good help around, if you will. She walked over to the window of her penthouse suite and looked out upon all she 'owned'; still it was not enough. What she really wanted she could never have and in a fit of jealous rage she finally killed. Logan, her husband. A man like him was rare, very rare indeed, oddly handsome, strong, animalistic yet noble to a fault, intense but incredibly gentile. The thought of him and his little playmate making love ignited her rage. Recovering a priceless jade statue she hurled it at the glass window, shattering it into a million pieces, the artifact well over 1000 years old tumbled to the street 60 stories below, narrowly missing pedestrians as they walked by. It would be weeks before the resulting hole would be completely repaired. A small house in Tokyo... It was still small, still quiet, but it was empty and now dirty from lack of up keep. Wolverine surveyed his home with a heavy heart. "Jubilation." Was his only acknowledgement to the house that it's king was home. He walked up the steps to her old room, it was bare of anything of value as Amiko had pawned it to support her habit. Only one thing interested him. Her. He could feel her in this place, her smile, her spirit, her body... he sat down at her vanity table and surveyed what was left as the sun began to creep out of the west. It would be a year tonight, a year ago that they consumated their love, a year that they were brutally murdered by Viper and her newest lap dog Victor Creed. A meek voice called to him from Jubilee's door way. She slowly slide down to the floor, For the first time since their funeral Amiko found the strength to cry, not turn to a bottle of acid, not run to the arms of a lover, but actually cry. For them, for their deaths and all she had lost. Logan left the vanity and for a moment stood over his daughter, a new rage filled him. She wasn't weak, never had been, but there was only so much a girl her age could take. She'd lost her real family, Yukio, been brainwashed and now had to endure the loss of him and Jubilation. He took the girl up in his arms, and laid her on the bed. Sliding next to his daughter he craddled her. Soon his daughter was asleep, just like she had fallen asleep that night on the sofa with him and Jubilee. He touched her battered arm and the clear poision she'd pumped into her body for a little less than a year now spilled out and onto the bed. Kissing her on the top of her head, he prayed, for her. Nighttime... Amiko awoke in the darkness of her 'mother's' room, for the first time in a year her mind was focused and clear. She sat up without pain and her sleep had been peaceful. She padded the spot next to her for her 'father' but he was gone. A sprinkle of rain and a slight gust of a chilly wind alerted her that the window was open. The black crow from the cementary was perched on the ceil, a shadowy figure stood in the tree just beyond. The rain washed over his short thick form as he stood watch over her. She walked to the window and pushed aside the curtain, With his arms folded, and standing completely upright, he nodded yes. He shock his head once telling her no. She looked at him in awe, he had shed his burial tousers and white shirt for his old black uniform and gloves that she had stored in his old room. She looked at him one last time, Logan allowed a slight smile to grace his lips. Was all he would say, it was more than enough. The sound of the gate opening up caught Amiko's attention. She turned her head to see Jean and Remy standing in the front yard moving towards the door. When she looked back Logan was gone. "H'lo, h'lo, Amiko you here Chere?" Gambit called as he pushed open the front door. "Yes I am here," she returned from the top of the steps. Jean and Gambit entered the messy little house and upon seeing Amiko's decaying form they knew that all wasn't as well as she said in her few letters and phone calls. "You are looking for Logan?" Both X-Men were stunned, they weren't really sure how to approach Amiko about Logan's return from the grave, but she had saved them the trouble. "Yes, Amiko, have you seen him, do you know where he is?" Jean hastely requested. "Leave him alone, he has to handle Viper, HE has to kill her like dog that she is." "You don't undaerstand Amiko, if Viper is killed hundreds more will die. There will be a power play for her underground net...." Amiko waved her hand silencing Jean, she didn't care about that. "She kill Logan and Jubilee for the pleasure of killing, an unhonorable act. They were not meant to die. Now Logan will make her pay for her crimes, the others will pay in their own time and in their own way." At that the girl went back upstairs to start the process of picking up her shattered life. Nogani International... //Corian have you gone mad, he is dead, there is no returning from such a true death as the one Sabertooth inflicted upon him. Correct lover?// She hissed her question as she rolled her eyes to Creed who stood quiet and crossed armed in the corner. He only looked up at her with dark painful eyes, it was almost time for his fix. Corian my have been the most powerful telepath in all of Asia, but there was no way he could have correct about this. //Lady Viper I tell you he IS returned, not alive yet returned.// //You foolish little man, it is simply the X-Men that try to undue all I have done. Logan is dead as he should be, any man who would so callously disobey his wedding vowes and take another woman should have no less a fate than death. He dishonored me and paid the price, do not forget that. His friends are trying to upset me with this imposture, they make fools like you believe that he is alive. WELL I TELL YOU HE IS DEAD!!!// //I beg your forgiveness Lady Viper.// Corian took his place at the table of the Seven, Viper's guardsmen. Panels in the table rotated and small viles of reformulated 'acid' and needles rose out. Each man filled his needle and injected it into himself. There was no rush of pleasure no overwhelming high, only placid normalcy and no pain. They had long since built up an immunity to the positive effects of the drug now they simply took it to stop the pain. Creed went to Viper and did the same as she kept his supply with her at all times. The Sewers... Logan walked his demon walk to a ladder near a bend. Climbing up he found himself in an alley behind the Nogani Building, the crow who had lead him from above circled the building finally, it fluttered and swooped about a window on the sixith floor. SNINKT!! Two beautiful sets of adamantium claws emerged from the back of his hands, in his mind he could remember the first time Jubilee had ever seen them. She was so young yet understanding of what he was. He pushed his memories aside. Entering the building he made quick and easy work of the few guards hanging around the lobby and made his way to the floor where Viper and her cronies were. He entered a Great and grand lobby full of the best jade sculptures ancient China had crafted. The walls were black and there seemed to be no doors except the one he had just entered through. He turned ant it too disappeared in the wall, covered by a gold frames mirror. Once he would have taken a fighting stance, low and menancing, but not now. He stood tall and proud, this was something he was sent to do, something that he should have done years ago. The price for his lack of action, the death of beloved and the pain of his daughter. The room completely darkened, then he could smell them, seven men, hooked on the same drug as Amiko but somehow that were clear minded and focused...focused on dealing with him. the Hissing voice of his 'wife' blarred over a loudspeaker then disappeared. Not a fraction of a second went but before the seven men moved in for the kill. "GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!" Was the last thing any of them heard. The dead bezerker, hack and slached his way through them with the greatest of ease. A pile of broken lims and flesh lay in the center of the dark room. Logan stood next to his disgruntled masterpiece of carnage and mayhem, listening for a hint. He knew Viper was watching, he knew she'd give herself away. Still he heard nothing, no yells of outrage or fits of laughter. ClickCLICK.. He turned his head, a slit in the wall appeared. Walking over to it, he swung open the thin door and entered. In the stair well... "Remy, hold on," Jean took Gambit's hand, she could feel the carnage only a few more floors above them. Walking was taking to long, the Phoenix symbol glowed hot over her left eyes, both seasoned X-Men rose off the steps and glided through the air. She pushed open the door to the sixith floor wwith the greatest of ease. Both enetered the blood drenched room in time to see Logan disappear into the wall and the slinder door shut tight. "Chere, we best leave now," Gambit advised. "No Gambit, Logan has to be stopped. If he kills Viper than he is no better than the animal he has fought not become all this time. Viper has to answer for her crimes Remy, but not this way." "I agree Chere, but tak' a look 'round, Logan is good, but he non dis good. Chere Remy t'nk nuffin on dis Earth gonna stop him. Not even us, he come back for revenge and revenge he gonna get. We best go dis not why Gambit needed to come." "What are talking about Remy you said that before..." "Later Chere, now we gotta go, now..." Jean ignored him. She moved to the area where the door was and pryed it open with her mind. Logan entered the Thrown Room, where Viper said smiling on her golden seat of power. A round table with Seven empty chairs before her and Creed with arms crossed by her side. "Well Lover look it is truely my beloved cheating husband returned to me," she said with great joy. Anticipation graced her lovely cold face. Her ruby red lips parted exposing a fang filled smile. Creed without hesitation charged towards Logan who seemed unimpressed by the gesture. Creed lunged forward taking Logan down into a speedball roll across the room. Creed got to his feet and lunged again at Logan who was laying motionless on the floor. The blonde demon mercilessly hacked at Logan's body. Clawed out blood and flesh pooled in morbid ponds nearby. The walls sprayed with his blood, Creed felt victory over the Runt yet again. "Ya com back and I kills ya again, little... ARGGGGSSHHHH." Logan's thick hand wrapped around Creed's neck, Viper jumped to her feet in an attempt to get a better look at the action. Wolverine's face twisted with all his rage, ALL OF IT, Silver Fox, Mariko, weapon X, and especially Jubilee. He dug his fingertips so far into Sabertooth's throat, blood from his rupturing veins and arteries showered out like water from a lawn sprinkler. With his throat crushed, he could not even scream his pain. Logan used his throat hold on his enemy to push himself to his feet, then literally flung Creed by his Adam's Apple into the wall just to his left. Logan stood in place peering at Viper who was clapping and cheering his actions intensely. His wounded chest and stomach knitted back together. He moved towards Creed who was coughing and gasping for breath. He captured him by his shirt collar and in one powerful motion slashed him across the face from his left temple to the right side of his jaw. The blades penitrated his skull as he pushed them through. He dramatically exited the right side of Creed's head. The bastard's head sperated into three neat sections and slide to the floor. "Beloved, well done," Viper hissed as she continued to appuald as if she was at a sporting event, then again for her that was what this was. "Logan!!!" Jean's voice echoed throughout the chamber. Logan turned his head to face her, deep anger flashed from the depths of his dark eyes. A low trimbling growl filled him. "You don't have to do this, you have been given a second chance, Amiko needs you Logan, please don't do this. Don't throw away all that you gained as a man on an animalistic act like revenge." "He is not here for revenge Dear Phoenix he is here where he belongs, where he belonged all along with his beloved wife." Viper's matter of fact tone, chilled Jean to the core. Gambit slowly entered the chamber, a card in one hand his staff in the other. Logan slowly moved over to his wife and embraced her lovingly, "Beloved, " she whispered. "Logan what are you doing?" Jean questioned. In the blink of an eye Logan pushed his wife away from him, then captured her by the neck. "NO, LOGAN, NO," Jean took to the air, but when a biokenetic card exploded on her back she tumbled towards the ground. "Umf, Gambit got you Chere," The Cajun whispered in her ear. "Why Gambit, why?" She questioned. "Because if try and stop him, de ma would kill ya Chere. He was sent here, we got no right to stop him." Jean turned her head away from Gambit, regardless of what he said she had to try. "Logan listen to me," Jean yelled as she wiggled free from Gambit, "Amiko needs you." Logan looked at his 'wife' fighting and twisting as she dangled from his grasp. "Once Jubilee asked you to spare her life, she told you it was the honorable thing to do. That a beast operates on instinct and that a man operates by a code of honor. She asked you which one you were, you chose to be a man then , Logan. Now 'I' ask you Logan, what are you?" "....I am the Crow," Logan responded as he slamed three adamantium claws into Viper's chest rupturing her blackheart. Viper shrill wail shattered the glass wall behing her thrown. Her death cry was answered by a the black bird Logan was now apart of the Crow. Jean back pedaled as the bird and a trail of glass swooped around her and then onto Logan's shoulder. Logan would not release Viper who still squirmed. She spat slur after slur to him as blood gushed out her venomous mouth. On her last breath she swore to avenge herself as he had by hunting him in the after life. He only smiled as he watched her eyes roll into the back of her head and her last bloody gasp of air signalled the end of her miserable life. He looked at her thrown, then flung her lifeless body into it. Turning on his heals, Logan faced Jean's disappointed eyes and the unreadible expression on Remy Le Beau's face. Gambit placed a cigarette in between his thin lips and dig into his pocket for the cigar he'd placed there earlier, he knew this moment might come. "A smoke Mon Ami?" Logan took the cigar from Gambit's hands. "So you love P'tit dat much," Gambit said circling a lazy finger about Logan's ash white race and dark eyes, "you love her so much, dat you had to come back. I undastand Mon Ami. I undastand" Logan said nothing only bit into his cigar and walked away. "What about Amiko, Logan, will you care for her now?" Jean's question was ignored. Logan walked out of the chamber, his stride possessed by a force he knew to well and thought he had lost forever. "Damnit Remy, what happened here?" Jean demanded. "Once when I was a boy I had dese friends, a man named Christoff and his beloved Sandra dey were killed, murdered. See he was black, she was white. When he died he could non rest Chere, he didn't undastand he was dead. He saw de woman he love killed right befor' his eyes like a butcher cut up meat. A year later I saw him all painted up like a ghost, he kill dem Chere, all o' dem and a bunch more too. I beg him to stay, I had no one else, but he tell Gambit that dis was all he came to do an' left. Gone home wit his beloved, now able to rest. Like Logan 'bout to do Chere. He love P'tit so much he could non rest kno'in dat her killer still breath. He was given dis by somet'ng better den you o' me. Don' question it Chere, don' question it. Jus' kno' its alright now. I came here Chere because, like with Chris he came back to help me too, he sent me to th Theive's Guild. We here to take Amiko home wit us Chere. " The cemetary later that night... The rain had pooled in the hole in the center of Logan and Jubilee's grave. He slumped to the ground splashing mud in all directions. He thrusted his feet into the pool of water and looked at her name handsomely chisled into the marbel. "Jubilee." His whisper heard no further than his own throat, but reached the heavens above. The rain slowed to a drizzle then nothing. The middle of the Japanese monsson season and the rain stopped. But he ignored it, his thoughts on his true Wife, the only woman he had ever loved so deeply that she was now his only driving force. His eyes closed for some reason he felt tired, sleepy. "Wolverine." She called to him like the ringing of a crystal bell her voice awakened him. He was about to turn when he felt her hand on his shoulder. "Good evening Lover." She said in his ear. He reached around and captured her in his arms. He held her angelic form tight to his blood drinched body. She examined her beloved Wolverine, and with a feather gentle touch brushed away the wet mated hair covering his face. She smiled at him in a hope to get one in return, but instead he did her one better and kissed her. The lovers turned to see Amiko only a few feet away from them crying and shaking from again knowing that she would lose her family. In the corner of their eyes, they could see Jean rushing towards them. "Jubilee?" Jean haulted her advance and dazzed at her friend in awe and amazement. Jubilee looked at Logan and then at Amiko. Their nonverbal conversation ended in him nodding and releasing her. As bloody and dirty as Logan was Jubilee emerged from his arms with her short white gown perfectly clean. She approached Amiko with Logan close behind her. Jubilee hugged Amiko. The backed away. She looked at Jean who was on the verge of tears and said, "Jean please look after her for us?" Jean nodded, finally realizing what was happening, Logan was dead, he had been given no second chance only sent to do what needed to be done. The crow, the symbol of his vengous, rested on the marbel tombstone and watched as Amiko walked to Jean and Gambit. "We leave NOW Chere, dis is dere time, we can't stay." Jean nodded as she wrapped her arm around Amiko in an attempt to warm the girl. When they got to the street, Amiko turned around to take one last look at her parents, the man and woman who had loved her and cared for her when her real family could not. But they were gone, a sliver of a smile dance on Amiko's lips. Everything was okay now. In death as in life they were together.