Uncanny X-Men (Marvel Omega)

Theatre of Pain, Part II

He takes a good, long and hard look at his face in the mirror. A finger traces the scars that line his face, as well as the gray hairs on his head. He sees the wrinkles, and he can feel the pain of his body aging. He cannot control it. His body is turning against him.

The man known only as Logan knows the reality of life. He has accepted the fact that everyone, even him, will eventually die. It is all part of nature. But with his healing factor, he always expected to die in the heat of battle. Perhaps he would make a wrong mistake, or perhaps his opponent would just nail a good shot. He knew it would happen eventually.

But the one enemy he never expected to face was himself.

Yes, he has fought inner battles before, but those battles were more mental than physical. He never expected his body to turn against him. He never expected that his healing factor would stop working.

He continues to stare at his face in the mirror.

No. Not his face. The face of an old man. A man who has come knocking on death's door. A man who...

*KTASH*

The sound of glass shattering as his fist strikes the mirror. He leaves the hand imbedded against the base of the mirror for a moment, then removes it and looks down. Blood flows freely from the wounds. He reaches down with his free hand and pulls the broken shards of glass imbedded into his skin. He looks down at his bruised and bloody hand, half-expecting the wounds to close up.

They don't.

He turns on the faucet and places his hand beneath the running water. The blood flows from his hand and down the drain. He grabs a towel and pats it dry before grabbing some bandages and wrapping them around his hand.

"Goddammit..." he mutters.

He opens the bathroom door and steps out into the hallway. He watches as mutant kids scurry about to get to their classes in time. He wonders if he was ever like that when he was in school, if he ever went to school, that is.

"Logan...?"

He recognizes the voice and the scent makes it completely obvious. He keeps his back to her as he speaks, however.

"Somethin' y' need, Danielle?"

Danielle Moonstar comes around to his face, and almost gapes in shock at the sight before her.

"My God..." she says. "What happened to you?"

"Just havin' a bad day," he replies. She glances down to his bandaged hand and sees red splotches on it.

"You're bleeding..." she says. "You shouldn't be bleeding."

"I do now," says Logan. "My healing factor's gone."

"Oh..." says Danielle. "Oh... are you...?"

"Nevermind about me, I'm fine," he says. "Everyone has their time, kiddo. Mine's almost up."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about this or something?" she asks.

"Don't ya got a class t' teach?"

Danielle looks down at her watch and silently mouths the word, "Shit."

"Yeah, I do," she says. "I gotta run, I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah," replies Logan as she walks off. "Later."

He continues to wander through the now-empty halls of the Xavier Institute. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots another young mutant sitting on a couch by his lonesome. His skin appears to be gold with various brain matter showing on different parts of his body. He approaches the young man and takes a seat next to him.