| Chapter 9: Cheeky Scarring |

“I told you she was making him go crazy,”

“They both need to go to an institute. Not this one, a mental institute.”

“Leila is weird… she’s crazy and now it’s rubbing off on Professor Logan,”

There had been constant chatter for weeks about Logan’s episode with Rogue. Rogue now had bandages that wrapped around her chin and smaller ones that were on the long and somewhat deep scratches on her cheek. She would be fine; it would hurt for a while, but what bothered her most is she knew they would leave scars and that would always remind her of the day Logan forgot who she was and attacked her in front of everyone.

Logan had been sent to the Professor’s Office where he wasn’t having any classes for the day. It surprised everyone how long Logan had been out. The professor hadn’t commented on the length of it so everyone assumed that the Professor was keeping him unconscious. But he was just as worried as the others. He had no control on whether Logan was awake or not. He couldn’t wake him up and he certainly wasn’t keeping him like that.

“Are you sure you want to be all alone with him? Who know, he might be bonkers when he wakes up,” Xavier looked up. “Scott,” he stated. “If he does, I’ll be able to stop it, though I highly doubt it.”

“Why?”

“Well… I’m not entirely sure, it just seems like that. There’s a low chance that that will actually happen being that he’s already had an episode. It shouldn’t be more than once unless he’s under some kind of trance.”

“A trance? Like mind control?”

“Exactly.”

“But aren’t you keeping him in this coma? Shouldn’t you be able to block out anything that tries to get in?” Scott asked. Xavier sighed as he looked up at Scott.

“I don’t know why everyone has suddenly come under the impression that I’ve been doing that, but I haven’t. I haven’t denied it- until now- but there is something wrong… Something else keeping him like this and it’s blocking me out. There are other telepathic students in the school but I doubt their power is strong enough. Then again, they could be having their times while their still trying to control themselves, but I haven’t been able to sense anything… I have yet to ask Jean—“

“Woah, woah woah,” Scott cut him off. “Do you think Jean is doing this? Why would she? She knows well how to defend herself if Logan tries to hit on her and… just why are you accusing Jean?” Scott said as he got defensive. Xavier rolled over to his desk as he spoke.

“She’s the only other telepath left in the school Scott. She’s the only one strong enough to block me out. I’m hoping it’s not, but I can’t deny the possibility.”

“And if it isn’t her? What then?”

Xavier looked up from the floor to Scott. He hadn’t thought that would come up. He knows himself that he’d been putting mental boundaries in Jean’s head to suppress her other side, and he thought that it was that other side, Phoenix, that was keeping Logan in it. There were chances she could lose control and still not be aware of it happening, and all he would have to do is restore the boundaries before it was too late.

But the chance of it not being Jean…

“Then we’ll have to look in the entire Institute and I’ll have to use Cerebro,”

“Why? Is something wrong?’

“There might as well be if it isn’t Jean. It means we have an intruder,”

* * *

After about another few days, Logan woke up. In that time Xavier had questioned every telepathic student and used Cerebro but he couldn’t find out what was causing the madness. Leila had continued to be picked on as Rogue just locked herself in her room and refused to come out until Logan had woken up. Xavier stayed in his office most of the time, not being able to sleep and feeling stressed out as ever. In some times he would send out random telepathic messages to the students in the school as a result of his stress and constant anxiety. Sometimes they would be aggressive and violent, other times they would be just random.

He tried to grade the papers of his students without breaking hold of his thoughts. ‘KILL THEM ALL’, an outburst got sent out. A groan rose from his room and he shot up straight, causing a headache to start. His eyes darted to and fore in the room until they stopped on Logan who was waking up. Xavier let out a sigh of relief.

“What the hell was that?” he groaned as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. Xavier stared at him for a while as he looked around the room before clearing his throat when he began to realize his concern. “Logan, you’re awake.” He stated. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, just fine,” Logan groaned. “What happened?”

“You’ve been in a coma like state for a few weeks now since you attacked Rogue. We don’t know what happened to you, I was starting to get worried,” Xavier sighed. Logan looked at him and saw the bags under his eyes and a small stubble growing. Logan had always known Xavier as the clean shaven type of guy, this was the first time he’d seen hair on his face other than his eyebrows. “I’m alright now but are you?” he asked, feeling a little concerned.

“Yes, I’m fine. Once we get you checked out, I believe I’ll start to relax on my own.”

“Wait—did you say I attacked Rogue?!” he asked alarmed. “No way. I didn’t do that—it couldn’t have been me. Not Rogue. Rogue would be the last person I’d—“

“She’s fine now. She’s just emotionally injured and has a big scar on her cheek. I suggest after you’ve been checked out, you go talk to her. She won’t speak with anyone else—not even Bobby.”

“Alright, I will…” he said slowly. “Are you sure it was me? Are you sure I attacked her? I don’t remember attacking anyone, Professor,” Logan said.

“Yes, it was you. We believe you were just having another episode, like you have every once in a while, but this one was quite strange. You weren’t in your right mind, don’t feel bad about it,”

Logan gritted his teeth and gripped the sheets of his cot. He couldn’t believe he had done it—he wouldn’t. But with how stressed the Xavier looked and all, he felt he would be in no position to lie or make things up. The strange thing was he had no memory of it, but it wouldn’t be the first time he had no memory of something.

“I’m going to talk with her now,” he said as he started to get up.

“I’m afraid that can’t happen yet, Logan”

“And why not?” Logan asked defensively.

“You might mistake her for Mystique again. We have to get you checked in the infirmary; mentally and physically.”

“Confuse her for—what the hell?!” Logan exclaimed.

“You’ve done it before, we can’t risk it again. This time you might kill her,”

“Bullshit,” Logan grumbled as he started walking towards the door. “I’d never do that to Rogue. I’ll go talk to her and sort this out right now,” he mumbled, walking out of the door.

“Logan!” Xavier exclaimed to stop him, but he couldn’t. He was too tired and Logan waking up had made him relax a bit, making him feel the need to sleep again. Though he was still alarmed about a possibly confused Logan going to see one of the students he almost killed, he couldn’t overcome the sleepiness that came over him as he put his head on his desk and closed his eyes. He sent one final message before falling asleep.

‘Get Logan.’

Meanwhile, Logan walked up the stairway, making his was to Rogue’s room, where he was hoping she was. He was actually surprised that the halls and stairs were so clear of students. None felt the need to play rookie today or something, and he was actually a little disappointed he didn’t have to hustle anyone to class.

Finally he reached Rogue’s door, still trying to force his mind to remember what the Professor was talking about, but it seemed almost pointless to him now. He felt guilty and bad that he had been the reason Rogue was so upset. And he remembered the Professor mentioning that she had a scar on her cheek. Does that mean he used her claws?

He felt getting answers from her would be awkward and painful, but he had faced worst than this, though it never seemed to get better.

He sucked in a breath as he raised his fist and knocked on Rogue’s door.