*() - Characters speaking Japanese.

"I do not want it."

"Laura…" Kitty began. "If you just-"

"I said I don't want it!" Laura stormed out of her room and slammed the door behind her, leaving a stunned Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, and Storm to themselves.

"She took that well." Jubilee joked.

"Jubilation." Storm hissed.

"I'm just trying to lighten things up, Storm." The vampire explained. "I don't like this either. I mean why would Logan do this?"

"Who knows what he was thinking?" Kitty wondered, hugging the familiar yellow and blue costume to her body.

It had been a month since Wolverine – Logan - had passed away, and the days were not getting easier for those he left behind. Laura Kinney - designation X-23 - had returned to the Jean Grey School to look after Logan after the loss of his healing factor, but in the end he still died. Sacrificing himself so others would not be a product of the same madman that created him.

Surprisingly for a man well over century old, Logan had very little in the way of personal effects to leave behind. Everything he owned – which wasn't much - was at the school, but one thing he did leave behind was his costume. Once more he left it for Laura. Though if he could see her now, he might have thought twice about giving the girl a memento of his days risking his life as a final gift.

After the news of Logan's death reached Laura's ears she lashed out, running full speed through every stage of grief but acceptance. She screamed to the heavens. She sliced apart her room. She nearly destroyed the danger room. She blamed the X-Men for not protecting him. She blamed herself for not following him. She even briefly returned to cutting herself. The only thing she didn't do, was cry. Eventually she just shut down and stopped moving altogether, locking herself inside her room and refusing to see anyone. It would be days before Kitty arrived with Logan's gift to her.

When she first saw Logan's costume she simply stared at it with a blank expression. She didn't know what to feel. She was at a loss for what to say or do to make the situation bearable. Both words and actions had failed her. Finally she lashed out again, storming out of her room, and refusing contact with anyone she passed along the way. This brought her to her current stage of grief, aimless wandering.

Not knowing - or caring - where her feet would take her, Laura eventually stopped in the school's cemetery. How depressing. She thought. A school, normally a place meant for teaching and enriching young minds, was located right next to a cemetery. It didn't exactly instill confidence in its mutant student body. Was this all they had waiting for them in the real world? Death and violence. Perhaps Cyclops was right all along. Lugging through the graveyard, Laura found herself in front of Logan's tombstone. It was placed next to Professor Xavier's, who had died the previous the year, and two down from Jean Grey, whom the school was named after.

JAMES HOWLETT

"LOGAN"

X-MAN

AVENGER

MUTANT

WARRIOR

TEACHER

FATHER

BROTHER

FRIEND

HE WAS THE BEST THERE WAS AT WHAT HE DID. INSPIRE.

Laura sat down in front of the rather modest tombstone, clutching her knees to her chest. The wind blew through her silky black hair, revealing her saddened expression to anyone who would happen to walk by. Luckily – for their own safety – everyone kept their distance. Even Dust and Mercury. Laura stared at the tombstone as if she expected it to speak to her and give some worthy answer as to why things had to be this way. When she realized this would never happen, she glared at the rock in anger.

She clutched her bicep tightly in her shaking hands as she pulled her knees even closer to her chest in an attempt to make herself as small as possible. An apt description of how she felt.

She thought of Logan and his impact on her life. When she was lost without a family, he found her, or rather she found him. The memory of the night she met him always puzzled her. He was so willing to sacrifice his own life for a girl he had only just met. Laura at first saw this as weakness, More accurately, cowardice. But she later realized that this was in fact an act of atonement for all the things he had done. Ever since then she had gained an affinity for her "father".

It was an odd, almost possessive relationship that they shared at first. Laura would stay up all hours of the day, following Logan around the school. Watching him by either surveillance camera or with her own eyes.

It was an unnerving feeling for Logan at first. He hated being watched, but he eventually got used to it.

Through it all this relationship, one born of responsibility and longing, turned into a strong familial love. No matter how much Laura would seek answers on what to do with her life, he would always tell her the same thing: "Figure it out. Follow your own path." He would help her figure out the broken pieces of her life, but he would never want from her. Nor would he ever ask her to do something he would not do himself, but even then he would discourage her from doing the things that he did. Though she couldn't help but wonder, since they shared the same DNA, would this be her fate as well?

As she thought more, Laura's trip down memory lane took a somber turn when she recalled one particular sentence he spoke to her years before. "I'll be here whenever you need me, X." As she thought of these words, Laura tightened her grip on her arm even more. "You are a liar." She said to the tombstone.

Sensing something was wrong, Laura sniffed the air and quickly got on her guard. She whipped around, her claws drawn and ready to strike, but relaxed when she recognized her unexpected guest. "Hisako Ichiki."

"Do you pull those out on everyone?" The raven-haired girl asked, pointing at Laura's claws.

Laura retracted them. "I apologize." She returned to facing Logan's grave.

Hisako walked closer to her and sat down on the grass. Hisako Ichiki, codename Armor. A young Japanese mutant with the ability to create a psionic shell or "armor" around her body. She and Laura hadn't talked much - if at all - while inside the school, but they were always aware of one another. "You mad at him too?" she asked.

Laura paused for a brief moment to think of Hisako's question. She then gave a short nod.

"Yeah, there's kind of a line." Hisako sat next to Laura, but was careful to keep his distance in case the clone's claws made a sudden reappearance. "Quire won't shut up about how right he was about this happening."

"Removing his tongue would relive him of that burden." Laura said ominously.

"That's tempting, but I don't think the teachers would like that."

Laura gave no answer to Hisako's joke. After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Hisako spoke again. "Do you speak Japanese?"

"Speaking many different languages was crucial in my training as an assassin."

"…Is Japanese one of them?"

"(Yes. It is.)"

"(Good. That means we can talk without people eavesdropping on us.)"

"(The school has telepathic students.)" Laura reminded.

"(Yeah, but still I prefer this. The only person I could talk to like this was Logan.)"

"(Were you…close?)"

Hisako looked up to the sky. The clouds were slowly passing by, she noted it had finally stopped raining. "(I guess you could say that.)" She answered Laura. "(Coming from Japan, I didn't really know to adjust in America on my own. Logan was one of the few people I could speak naturally speak with until I learned English)."

Laura briefly glanced at Hisako, noticing the small smile on her lips, before facing the tombstone again. "(You sound like you cared greatly for him)."

Hisako chuckled, catching Laura off-guard. "(The guy was a jerk. He sucked as a teacher, his people skills were horrendous, and he always reeked of beer. But…)" Hisako's smiled sadly. "(He helped me out a lot. So, yeah I did care about him)." Her face then scrunched in anger. "(I want to find whoever did this and hurt them)." She "armored up" her right arm to drive her point home. "(I want to hurt them bad)."

Laura couldn't argue with Hisako's words. She had been thinking the same thing. The difference was she knew exactly where to find Logan's killer. She could never forget that stink. Though despite feeling the same way as Hisako, a surprising answer came from Laura's mouth. "I do not think he would want that."

Hisako was taken aback by Laura's answer, but relaxed soon after. "(I know)." She reluctantly admitted. "(I just hate this gross feeling in my stomach, y'know)? (It hurts)."

"(I feel the same.)"

"(Then why don't we find the guy who did this and make him pay)?" Hisako suggested. "(He has to know what it feels like when you take away someone's family)."

Once again Hisako and Laura were on the same emotional level, but once again Hisako was shot down by Laura. "(Logan would not want us to honor him that way)."

Hisako shot up from the ground. "Then what the hell do we do?!" she shouted angrily "Just sit here and pretend everything is ok?! Do we just 'live on'?! Is that it?!"

"I...do not know what to do." Laura admitted.

Hisako regained herself and sat down. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lash out at you."

"It is ok." Laura accepted. "It is good to be angry in a situation like this. I was angry too."

"It looks like you still are." Hisako pointed out.

"I am…disappointed." Laura explained. "Logan lied to me."

"About what?"

"He said that he would always be by my side. He said that he would always be around to help me, but now he's gone. He did not keep his promise."

Hisako stared at Logan's tombstone. She could empathize with Laura's loneliness in a way. She felt the same despair when her mother and brother died, but the main difference was that she still had her father to comfort her. Laura did not have that. Logan was the only family she had left – aside from Wolverine's very estranged son, Daken - and now he was gone. "You know, he talked about you sometimes…before you came back."

Laura looked to Hisako, once again the girl was smiling softly.

"He used to wonder what you were doing by yourself." Hisako said. Her smile brightened and she laughed softly. "You should have seen him. He was like a worried father after sending his daughter off to college. It was really lame."

Laura looked back at the tombstone and felt a smile pull at her lips for the first time in a month. Hisako continued speaking.

"He really cared about you. You're his family, and despite his really rough exterior, Logan does anything for his family."

Laura's smile widened a bit more. "I know. Thank you, Hisako."

Hisako looked to Laura, who was smiling at the tombstone. She smiled in return. "Don't mention it. I was just venting my own feelings."

"Losing him…hurts, but I feel I will learn to accept it. In time." Laura said.

"Well there's definitely no rush." Hisako said. "We can both take all the time we need."

The two sat at Logan's grave until sundown.

"Must you really leave so soon, Kitty?" Storm asked.

"Yeah." Jubilee added with a pout. "It's been forever since we last saw each other."

"I know." Kitty replied regretfully. "But I just came to drop off Laura's gift from Logan. I have to get back to my own students." She was referring of course to the original five X-Men who had come from the past. She placed the folded costume on Laura's bed then walked to the door. "Let me know if Laura ever-"Just as she reached for the knob the door opened from the other side, revealing Laura and Armor.

"Laura?" Kitty asked in alarm.

"You're here too, Hisako?" Storm asked, noticing her behind Laura.

"Where were you, Laura?" Jubilee interrogated. "We looked everywhere. We thought you ran off again."

"Laura was with me, Ms. Lee." Hisako answered. "We were talking and lost track of time." She looked over to Kitty. "Hello, Headmistress Pryde."

"Please, Hisako." Kitty smiled. "I'm not the Headmistress anymore. You don't have to call me that."

"Oh, ok." Hisako had to admit it was more than a little awkward seeing Kitty at the school, it was like that for everyone. Some of the students still hadn't accepted her leaving. Hisako didn't know what side of the argument she was on.

Laura looked past the women in the room to Wolverine's costume. She walked to her bed and held up the clothing, surprising the others except for Armor, who simply smiled.

"What is it, Laura?" Ororo asked.

"If you don't it in here we can-"Jubilee began, but she was interrupted by Laura.

"I want to…try it on."

The three senior X-Men were stunned by Laura's words.

Laura turned to face them, a guilty look in her eyes. "Is that not ok?"

Kitty regained her senses. "N-no, it's fine."

"It sounds wonderful actually." Storm smiled.

"Yeah." Jubilee nodded.

Kitty walked to Laura and was handed the suit. "Just give me a couple of days and I'll have it fitted for you, ok?"

Laura nodded in acceptance. "Ok."

Two days later Laura was standing in front of the standing mirror in her room, modeling Wolverine's altered suit with Jubilee, Storm, Kitty, and Armor at her side. The changes to the suit weren't major, but they were enough to make it different from the one Logan had left behind. Aside from the obvious size change to fit Laura's frame, her arms were completely covered, and the boots weren't as flared out as they were with Logan. The mask was also a little constricting. She had never wore one over half of her face before. If Laura was making an assessment on the suit, she surmised it was designed to make her more mobile in a fight.

"We even fixed the gloves for you." Kitty pointed out. The former Headmistress of the Jean Grey School pulled a reluctant Emma Frost into helping her fix the costume. Even though she and Logan were never on friendly terms, Emma at least thought enough of him to fix his gift for the girl.

Laura looked at the gloves of the costume, noticing that there were two slits instead of the normal three. This was obviously made to accommodate her two claws. She freed her blades to test the fabric. It was durable and functional. Even for her rarely used foot claws.

"Well…" Jubilee prompted. "How do you like it? You've been looking in the mirror for twenty minutes."

Laura looked back at herself in the mirror. "I do not look…weird?"

"By no means." Storm reassured.

"You look great." Kitty smiled.

"Yeah, you wear it way better than Logan ever did." Jubilee grinned.

"I'll say." Hisako nodded.

Laura turned to face her friends and pulled back her mask. The feeling of the costume was a surreal one. Not really bad, just strange. She didn't know what to say about it. Was she really allowed to wear something that belonged to him? Is this what he left it to her for? I didn't feel wrong, but it also didn't feel completely right. Just as she tried to figure what was going on, something inside of her broke.

"Laura, are you ok?" Kitty worriedly called.

Laura looked up at the group. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're crying." Jubilee pointed out.

"What? I am not-"Laura reached to her eye and was surprised to find out that she was indeed crying. "I do not understand." She wiped away her tears, but more replaced them. "Why am I crying?" she sniffed.

The other girls all smiled softly at Laura.

"Logan is lucky he's dead." Jubilee sniffed, rubbing her own eyes. "Because I'd totally kick his butt for making Laura cry."

"Katherine, why can I not stop crying?" Laura asked Kitty through her tears.

Kitty walked to Laura and hugged her. "It's ok, Laura. You don't have to hold it in anymore. You can cry."

"I miss him." Laura wrapped her arms around Kitty and began to cry louder. The others gathered round and hugged the pair, allowing Laura to let her tears flow into the night.

Hisako and Kitty moved to exit Laura's room, both waving goodbye to Jubilee and Storm. Laura was staring out of her window at the stars., her tears had finally dried.

"You know you can take that thing off if you want." Jubilee suggested. Laura was still wearing the costume.

"Jubilation." Storm chided.

"I want to keep it on a little bit longer." Laura said. "Is that ok?"

"Of course, Laura." Strom accepted with a smile. "Let's leave her be, Jubilee."

"Alright." Jubilee followed Storm out of Laura's room. "Good night, Laura." Jubilee closed Laura's door softly, leaving Laura alone with her thoughts.

Laura continued looking to the stars through her window. She couldn't explain it, but she could feel Logan's presence all around her. Perhaps it was the suit. She didn't know, but she did feel that he hadn't broken his promise to her after all. He was there protecting and watching over her. Always.

Laura softly smiled to herself, lightly clenching the fabric on her new costume as one more tear fell from her eye. "Thank you."

Another X-23/Wolverine Story. A sort of sequel to "Weapons". I meant to write this as soon as the news broke that Laura was becoming the new Wolverine, but I started it and just stopped for a while. It happens. At least I got this out before the relaunch next month.

Now I have no idea how Laura will officially take up the mantle, but this is my interpretation of it. I wanted to try and do her character justice (I hate how she's been written recently) so hopefully I succeeded on that front.

Well as always leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading! :)