The Monster Within

Chapter 11

"How did you get here?" He asked, staring out at his dreamscape. He sat at the edge of a cliff, where I could tell was where his nightmare was.

"I practiced more since we last saw each other." I said, sitting next to him. I dangled my legs over the edge and looked at him. His hair was back and I could tell he no longer had any cancer in his body.

"It was awful. There was my dad, and he was hitting kids, and I saw you. He hit you too. I couldn't stop him in time. He called you a freak and said that your boyfriend was right. He shot you, Aubri. And then, he smiled at me. Tried to comfort me like he cared. With you laying there, dead on the ground. I'm so sorry!" He said, hugging me. His dream reappeared as he described it. I kicked his father off the rocks floating before Wade could see him.

"It's alright Wade. It's just a nightmare. Everyone gets them. Do you think I can go help Logan? He was also having issues." I said, standing up. "Also, I can help your rock." I waved my hand and one of Wade's happy memories popped up. I then carefully exited his mind.

Logan was in much worse shape than Wade. He was yelling and thrashing. His claws were unsheathed, and I almost lost an eye. I radiated calm to the room and watched as he slowed. I stayed as far back as I could in case this didn't go well and entered his mind.

Logan's dreamscape was much different. His nightmare was everywhere and repeating. I found him, sitting in the middle of it all sobbing into his hands. I walked over to him carefully and gently touched his shoulder. He attempted to stab me with his claws, but I dodged. Mostly. My stomach now had three minor gash wounds.

"Who, where, why, how?" He questioned. "Shit. I hurt you. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to Jean." He said, obviously thinking I was in his nightmare.

"Logan, it's alright. I'm not Jean. I'm Aubri. You are having a nightmare. I can help you." I said, reaching out to him. "You have to help me though."

"How? You couldn't save me before, because I hurt you. I hurt you real bad Jean." He said, burying his head in his hands.

"Logan, I'm not Jean. You need to calm down. You are in a nightmare. You have to focus on my voice. I need your hand. Please, Logan." I said, stepping closer.

"How are you in my head?" He asked, flinching away. I slowly backed away.

"Magic. Similar to Professor X's. I am a figment of my magic that embodies me in your dreamscape. Focus, can you see it?" He focused on the rock, and I could tell that he could see it. "Now, break the rock. Where the nightmares are, there is a crack. Break the chunk of rock off. You have to do it, I can't. It's your dreamscape. I can't make it better without you." I coached. He stared at the cracks in his dreamscape. He started running around, destroying the nightmares. He finished fairly quickly for it being his first time. When he was done, he sat on the edge of his new cliff and stared at nothing. I sat next to him. He was the first to break the silence.

"I wasn't always like this. I had a wife. Long ago. My brother killed her. Then, they made me this." He said, unsheathing his claws. "Laura was understanding. She called me Wolverine. I never thought I'd meet someone like her again, but then I met Jean. She was working as a professor for Xavier. She saw me and understood me. Then, I had to kill her to save the world..." He trailed off, looking off the cliff.

"Do you think you will be okay? I can't use too much magic, and I'm currently using some to keep myself here and to stop my grounded body from bleeding out." I said, standing up and putting a shield around him.

"Shit, did I get you? I'm sorry! I'll help you!" He said, standing up.

"I'll be fine. I just need to stop using magic to stay in your mind. So I can leave you? I don't want to desert you if you still need me." I said, slowly pulling out of his mind.

I might have been lying about minor gash wounds. The wounds were decently deep and I bled a lot. I focused my magic into a small healing ball and watched my skin re-knit itself back together. I carefully cleaned the blood off the ground and staggered into the kitchen. I wolfed down a granola bar and still felt light-headed. I stared out the window and decided that hunting wasn't a bad idea. I walked to Forest Park, keeping my head down to avoid drawing attention to myself. By the time I was done, it was nearly dawn. I walked down the nearly empty streets, and something caught my eye. A lady was being mugged.

"HELP! PLEASE!" She screamed, but no one stopped to help her. I stared at the men mugging her, and I could see their intent from a mile away. I couldn't let an innocent woman be raped when I could have prevented it. I pulled up my hood in a desperate attempt to cover my face and ran to them.

"I'm only going to tell you this once. Let her go." I said. The three men stared at me and started laughing.

"Oh no! What are you going to do? Get lost kid. Or else." One said, brandishing his gun at me. I looked at it carefully.

"I don't think so. Let her go. Now." I hissed, lacing as much venom into my voice as possible. Two of the three men started to have their doubts. The first man, who I assumed to be the leader, seemed unfazed, however.

"Okay, boys. Looks like we got ourselves two for one. You two worry about her. I'll take care of the small one." He said. The men started to close in on the woman, but I lashed out with my power. The two men went flying back, and I summoned daggers to hold them to the wall by their clothes.

"Run!" I told the lady. She nodded and took off running down the street.

"Well well. What do we have here? I would say an enhanced, but that's not correct, is it?" The leader said, crouching into a defensive position.

"I don't know what you think you are talking about, but you must be incorrect." I said, following suit.

"Oh please. You think I wouldn't notice your smell, little vampire?" He asked, circling me. I froze in shock. He took this opportunity to lunge at me. I lept out of the way and summoned another dagger.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked, circling with him to avoid an attack.

"The name's Alfred. I'm a professional vampire slayer." He said, lunging again. I attempted to stab him, but the blade shattered on impact. He knocked me over, and I fell with an oof. I kicked him off of me and he went flying. He caught himself and charged again. I put up a shield and he ran into it. I blasted him with magic and he fell to the ground, unconscious. I walked closer to him.

"You know, you might want to change your name. Alfred isn't even that scary." I said, kicking his head gently. I knelt next to him and focused a large ball of healing energy into his system. Now, anything that was enhanced was gone, and he wouldn't remember being a vampire slayer. With my work done, I tied the thugs up with magic, after figuring out the other two were mortals, and left a lovely note for the police. I pulled my hood down once I was out of sight of anyone who could have seen.