Logan fell to his knees when the Transports had disappeared from view as his grief finally broke through the icy fist that held his heart and welled up to erupt in an animalistic howl of pain and anguish that shattered the still silence of the desert. He put her down on the ground and smoothed her hair back from her face, while his tears left tracks on his cheeks and landed on hers, only to be wiped away as he touched her still face over and over again, as if his hands were trying to reconcile with the fact he would never get to do it again. Bent low over her, he began to rock back and forth as his grief overwhelmed him and he cried as he'd never cried before.

XXXXXXXXXX

While the others wept and talked and explained things behind him, Scott watched as Logan disappeared into the shimmering light that bathed the desert lands. He was vaguely aware that behind him, Jean was trying to get his attention, but there and then, the lies, deceit and intrigue that she was trying to discuss with him were nothing compared to the loss and defeat he was feeling.

He knew Remy probably felt the same, and a quick glance showed the auburn haired Cajun sitting on a rock with a piece of paper in his hands which fluttered gently in the light wind that blew. Finally, he turned his back on the desert and looked around at the tents that had been set up between the two transports. Above them, high in the sky, the massive Helicarrier was hovering within sight and he sighed softly. Jubilee's former classmates were staring out into the desert, clearly in shock at their loss, while a few feet away, Emma and Sean were concentrating on a communicator, clearly steeling themselves to make a call they were dreading. The White Queen's normally pale skin was now alabaster and her eyes wore a haunted expression. Sean's eyes were red, though he hadn't yet shed a tear. He'd wait until he was alone to mourn her as he wanted and needed to. Steeling himself, he punched it and waited for Bishop's deep voice to answer.

"It's Banshee. You can tell everyone back at the mansion that we've succeeded. We...Ehecatl was defeated. Anybody that was Taken is back with us...I'm not sure if there were any deaths. Any other deaths..." He trailed off awkwardly and cleared his throat. "Bishop, I need you to find Angelo...and tell him...tell him that she's...Jubilee is-"

"Jubilation is dead. She sacrificed herself to save everyone." Emma cut in, realising that Sean couldn't bring himself to say the words.

Back in the control room, Bishop froze as her words sank in. He cut them off with a jab of a button and left his post, striding through the deserted corridors. Instead of taking the elevator, he took the stairs, unable to stand still even for the short time it would have taken to reach the main floor. Bursting out the small, hidden door, he stalked past those who had been deemed too young, too injured and those with powers too weak to be much use in the fight until he realised he was passing Angelo. He reached out and snagged the Latino's shirt without stopping and dragged him along until they reached a wall. Eyes dangerous, he slammed the teenager against the plaster and held him there with both large hands bunched up in his shirt either side of his neck.

Angelo's eyes were large and frightened as he searched the black time traveller's face for some hint of what was going on. "Bishop-?"

"She's dead. Jubilee...my commander, my leader is dead." Bishop pulled Angelo away from the wall and slammed him back against it, cracking the plaster as he growled, revealing the true extent of their relationship in the future. But the moment Angelo's face crumpled into a mask of grief and despair, the fierce anger that had run through him, and the need to break something that Ehecatl had touched drained away. He let go of the shirt and stepped back, watching as Angelo slid down the wall until he was sitting bonelessly on the floor.

Turning, he raised his voice. "The Battle was won; Ehecatl is dead. Spread the word."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Emma slipped the communicator inside her uniform and joined Scott by Charles's side. "What?" She asked frostily. Scott hung his head sadly.

"Nothing. We were just…talking." Scott murmured.

"About? There have been far too many secrets in the past few weeks, Summers." She declared pointedly, "and look how they turned out?" She gestured in the direction Logan had gone in and Charles and Scott shared a long look.

"We were discussing what had just happened, and the last orb. The one from Russia that was taken. Scott says that they contained other entities like the one that had possessed Jubilee. If it is here, then there is something trapped in it that needs to be released." Charles rested his hand on Scott's shoulder, silently urging him not to rise to any bait that Emma might throw at him.

"I don't see why we should help them." Sean announced, crossing his arms firmly across his well muscled chest. "They've caused us nothin' but trouble. Death and destruction. Leave 'em go to hell." The Irish brogue was strong and thick and the pain in his eyes was hard to meet.

"It's what we do." Remy finally looked up from his letter and tiredly got to his feet. "We help. No? If dat not what we do, den what we do? We fight…we fight fo' people who cannot fight. Dese 'gods' dey couldn't do it without us. Jubilee, she know dis. She know all too well."

Inside the Cavern, Heather's eyes opened and stared up through the twinkling dust that still filled the cavern, lit by the wide column of light that flooded in from the new hole in the roof. Her hand twitched at her side and rose shakily to reach up into the light, as if it could catch the small specks of light. After a moment her left arm snaked out and grabbed her other hand, gripping it tightly until the knuckles were white underneath its leather covering.

Beside her, Ben Grim stirred and opened his eyes. Unsure of why he was suddenly lying on the ground in a dust-filled cavern, he stayed still and realised that he was staring at a woman lying on the ground with him. She twitched and moved as though warring with herself, eyes wide and scared.

"Hey, kid…" He whispered softly and reached out to take her hand. He stopped a bare inch from her when her head turned towards him and a hiss left her lips.

"Ssssstop"

The voice was strange and the look in her eyes even stranger as she stared back at him and slowly moved her hands out of reach.

"Kid…what's going on?" He looked around at the mostly empty cavern and sat up, realising neither of them were in much danger.

"Oorb." The bare hand reached towards his belt and unhooked a cloth bag from it. He didn't miss the shudder and wince as she did so, and he reached out to grip her shoulder. "We must get it…out. Save the one…Save her. Save us."

"We?" Ben looked around; there was only the girl and himself in the vicinity and he frowned worriedly. "We who?"

"Orb." The woman almost spat out and fumbled with the bag as if the left hand didn't know or understand what the right one was doing. It was then that Ben put two and two together and got, well, two. Two people; one body.

"Who are you?" He asked, grabbing her by both shoulders, and the face turned up to him, light blue eyes wide and searching.

"We are Unity…" the voice hissed, and suddenly the body beneath his hands shuddered and the eyes closed. "We are not Unity. We are Heather." There was another shiver. "And we are Jubilee. And everyone else. We must free the orb. You must help us."

Ben's forehead crinkled into a frown. "Jubilee? That's Logan's annoying-"

"Pain in the ass." The woman finished for him, the accent and cadence changing from the strange modulated tone to a much more normal one. "Not for much longer if we don't get moving. We are two souls of two bodies encased in one and that is not a good thing. We must survive. We must release the Orb!"

The body attempted to stand and stumbled and flopped like a newborn foal, legs trembling. Gripping her arm, he hauled her upright and watched as she froze. "You two trying to control one body, ey? You might be better off letting one person handle that instead of arguing about it."

It seemed to think about what he'd just said and the body wobbled again before the knees straightened and locked. Shaking off his grip, she stalked towards the entrance, and Ben smirked slightly, knowing who was in control now he knew who was in the body. Only Jubilee could carry off that much attitude in a body that wasn't hers.

He followed her outside, having to trot to keep up with her, and squinted in the bright glare as she faltered outside of the mouth to the tunnel. "Your lot is over there." He pointed, being several feet higher than her and in a better position to see. She looked up at him with that odd expression and her lips twisted into a weird smile and he realised that they were both attempting to smirk at him.

"C'mon, kid." He pushed her in the direction of the X-Men, noting the presence of SHIELD soldiers, tents and the massive Helicarrier floating above them, and when he got close enough to the X-Men, he called out to them.

"Got a body here needs to talk to you lot." He called when they got close enough to be heard, and Charles and Emma turned.

"Heather? You were supposed to stay back at the Mansion-" Emma began, but stopped when Charles held up his hand. Something was off and he could see it immediately. Heather was walking strangely, her shoulders back and her head high. There was a strange sway to her hips and he tentatively reached out with his mind, only to draw back just as swift.

"Heather isn't alone in there." He murmured, and Emma straightened, eyes sharp.

"We are not alone." Heather's body intoned quietly, the voice going back to the strange, unified tone of their voices and accents. "We are two souls from two bodies in one body. We are Heather, and we are Jubilee. When we touched her the first time, we received a number of images and it took some time to realise just what one of them meant. Two souls in one body. We must return her to her own body quickly, or she will be absorbed into us and we will be like this forever. Before, it was only ever the memories she took. Heather and Jubilee will cease to be. We will be Unity forever." She held up the Orb in her bare hand. "Where is the body?"

Emma glanced towards the desert and Heather's eyes widened. "He'd better not be burying me!"

The screech was in Jubilee's Californian accent, and drew the rest of the X-Men's attention as she broke into a strange gambling run. Sharing a look, Scott and Jean turned on their heels and followed, and soon they were out of sight of the main camp and approaching the speck in the distance that was Logan. It was Heather/Jubilee that noticed as she grew closer, that there were strange bright lights hovering behind Logan's back, and they felt a surge of hope well up.

They reached him first, sliding to an ungainly stop in front of him as they momentarily lost control of their legs. The sight of her body limply draped over Logan's arms threw Jubilee for a minute, giving Heather back control of the body, and she opened her mouth to speak, but Logan beat her to it.

"Go away." He ordered hollowly, not lifting his eyes from the lifeless eyes staring up at him.

"Logan-"

/He will not listen/ One of the orbs of light coalesced into a glowing humanoid form, and Heather squinted up at it. Chalchiuhtlicue's feet didn't touch the ground, but she stepped closer and crouched beside him, peering at him curiously. /He does not appear to be able to hear now. It is most curious/

"Can you put us back the way we were?" Heather asked as the others caught up with them, slightly out of breath. They stopped a few feet away and watched the three of them warily, eyeing the Goddess carefully. "I mean, you said for us…for me to take her in; to save her soul if we could. We saved her soul. Can it be put right?"

Chalchiuhtlicue put her hand out and touched it against Jubilee's smooth, unlined forehead, looking at her sadly. /Our power is too weak. It took everything, including the child's power reserves to destroy my brother. Did you find-/ She looked up as the Orb was held out towards her and nodded slowly. /Please; release Akna. Set my sister free/

Heather looked confused, but Scott reached down and plucked the Orb from her hand. Tossing it into the sky, he touched his finger to his visor and set off a quick blast, hitting it as it began its downward arc. The stone split into two and fell away to reveal another glowing sphere, which hovered for a moment, seeming to hesitate.

The brighter sphere darted around her glowing form, and after a moment, it drifted down to graze Jubilee's lips, and bobbed up and down there for a few moments before returning to Chalchiuhtlicue.

Emma had to squint to make out the glowing figures features properly, and her eyes narrowed as she realised that the Being seemed to be smirking. "You have your people; they're all free. Now go, and leave us be. Go back to your temples!" She snapped, and Chalchiuhtlicue turned to look at her, while the other bright orbs of light drifted and darted around her. On the ground, Logan finally lifted his head and looked around, seeming to finally take notice of what was going on around him. He looked down again and frowned, cupping Jubilee's cheek with a trembling hand.

/But you deserve a reward for your work; do you not wish to receive that which you have earned?/ The being asked curiously, and the Orbs darted between the two of them. Emma's mouth opened and closed, and she looked to the others to answer.

"We…" Jean began, looking worriedly at Charles, who seemed suddenly struck dumb.

"Unless you're bringing back de Petite, you needn't bother." Remy answered for all of them , his tone taut and bitter. "We don' need no gifts." The last word was practically spat, and Chalchiuhtlicue gave a minute shrug and sighed heavily.

/Very well, then. We will take our leave. Those of us that still exist; my brothers and sisters, we will depart this world. Our time has passed. Your people have evolved beyond the need for our presence. There is room only for one God I think in this world, and you have chosen him. And though he appears in many different forms, he is still one god, unlike what we were. We will not interfere with your lives again/

The shining orbs darted upwards, leaving her and the newly freed God alone with them. "That's a promise?" Logan spat gruffly from his place on the ground, and hugged his daughter closer, her face and body turning against his chest as he stood and adjusted his grip.

/That is a promise/ She stepped away to stand by her sister, lifting her hands in benediction when she stood in front of the others. /May your lives never be in shadow/ With that, her form shrank down until she was a small ball of light again and the two of them shot upwards, disappearing into the bright blue sky.

"Logan, I-" Jean began, and he sighed heavily, turning to look at Heather instead.

"Touch her, kid." He ordered gruffly, and Heather/Jubilee stood awkwardly, both fighting for control of the body again. The bare, right hand reached out to touch the body, but the leather-clad hand clamped down on it again. It wasn't strong enough and with a quick movement, flesh met flesh and Heather's body seemed to jerk. The girl collapsed into heap on the ground, and Logan hugged his burden closer, suddenly burying his face in her hair as a violent shudder tore through him.

While Jean and Charles hurried to help Heather, Bobby moved to stand beside Remy, putting his hand over a bandage on his arm. "Do you ever feel like you're not singing from the same hymn sheet as everybody else?" He asked worriedly, and Remy nodded slowly, not taking his eyes away from Logan.

"Shhh, watch…" He murmured, his sharp eyes fastened on the pair. He had a suspicion that the goddess had gifted them something after all, and his thoughts were confirmed when Jubilee's hand twitched and moved slowly to grip Logan's bicep.

"Easy, big guy…" Her words seemed loud in the sudden silence and Logan's grip increased. "Seriously, Logan; need my ribs to breathe…"

It was then that Charles and Jean realised that Logan hadn't been crying into her hair, but had been laughing. Tears still streamed down his cheeks, but as he lifted his face to look down on her, a wide smile had replaced the grief on his face, and Paige and Rogue threw their arms around each other. Storm sagged against Beast as though her strength had deserted her, but Bobby simply gaped, his jaw slack.

Scott was the first to approach, and letting out a shuddering breath, he reached out and moved aside her hair to look at her properly; to make sure she was really and truly alive. Logan carefully released her legs, letting her lower body slide down his until she was standing, but kept an arm wrapped tightly around her; partly because he was reluctant to let her go, but mostly because her body was trembling like a newborn colt and he wasn't sure she had the strength left to stay on her own two feet.

"I'm here, Scott." She assured him, reaching up to grip his hand as he pushed her hair back behind her ear. "Thank God…Thank Our God. Not them…" She glanced upwards and shuddered. "I'm alive. And well…so…um…"

"We tell no one of what has happened." Charles announced, straightening and bringing a stunned looking Heather with him. He looked as though he was fighting a smile, and cleared his throat softly. "Logan was mistaken when he thought she was dead. Her powers were merely spent and she was breathing so softly that it was hard to detect. Ben?"

The Thing nodded slowly, looking more confused than he'd ever been in his life. "I dunno what's going on, but right now I'll agree to that…the kid's not dead…an' that kid didn't have another person in her…an' I'm in the desert an' have no idea why I'm here, an' there was no glowie lights…have I missed anythin'?"

Rogue gently grasped his arm and began to head back to the tents, pulling him along with her. "C'mon, sugah, I'll explain while we walk."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The X-Men's return to the tents was quiet, and the others thronged around Logan and Jubilee, hiding them from view until they reached a tent that Jono and Sean had run ahead and secured. Hank declared her fit and well, aside from exhaustion and a few bruises from the fight and had enveloped her in a bone crushing hug as soon as he was sure she wasn't any the worse for her experience.

They didn't hang around long at the tent city; a few hours later, the stolen transport rose into the air with less than half the people who had come with them, leaving behind those who chose to stay with their own friends and families as they got medical treatment and were debriefed.

When they set down on the lawn of the mansion, it was a small welcoming committee of two that met them. Angelo was practically bouncing where he stood as the X-Men and their passengers streamed out, and he ran up to Logan and gestured for him to put Jubilee down so he could hug her properly.

When he did, it was gentle and gingerly due to Logan's gruff warning, but she returned it with gusto, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Most of our guests have left." Bishop informed them quietly as he joined them, and Jean nodded. From the reaction of those who had stayed behind in the desert, she guessed that most people just wanted to get back to their own lives and get on with living again. Only a handful of Supers had stayed; those who had no place to go like the Parrs, and those who would have some work to do to make their homes liveable again, like Tradewind.

There was no huge homecoming; no party, no celebrations. Instead, most went to bed, or sought out a quiet place in which to sit and think, or rest. Logan and Jubilee disappeared into his room for two days straight, and when they came out, both were still quiet. A long discussion had gone on behind his door when Jubilee had finally woken from her exhausted slumber, and he'd had to hide his anger at her actions, and what had been done to her over the last months. He was still angry as he finally left to find them food, and she'd sat up in the bed amongst the nest she'd created and held out her hand to him. "Logan, just remember; if this hadn't happened…if I hadn't carried her, I'd be dead now. I'd have been dead a long time ago. We'd have never have gotten to get over our argument and I wouldn't be Jubilation Lee Logan now."

He stopped in his tracks, his hand tightening around the doorknob as her words hit him. "You would, wouldn't you?"

She smiled wanly and nodded. "Like, yeah. So, put it behind you. The past is past and the present is all that matters. We Logan's live for the now, right?"

He nodded slowly and walked out the door as his anger dissipated. When she put it like that, it seemed he had no choice but to accept what had happened and resolved to make sure nothing like it ever happened again.

The door had only been shut a few moments when it opened again, and Heather poked her head inside, looking at Jubilee worriedly. The teenager beckoned her in tiredly and lay back against the pillows tiredly. "Hey…"

"Hey…" They both began awkwardly, and Jubilee reddened.

"Thank you. For saving my life. And my soul." She added apologetically. "And, um, sorry…for trying to take over your body like that."

Heather shrugged, sitting down gingerly on the edge of the mattress. "I'm not going to say it's ok, but I understand why you did it. And I'm a little used to it. You were stronger than anyone I've taken in to me though…combined."

"That's probably because you weren't taking my memories; you were taking me in." Jubilee pointed out sleepily, covering a yawn with her hand. "If you hadn't done that…I don't know what would have happened."

Heather looked downcast and kept her eyes on her hands, flexing them in her gloves. "I do. The X-Men would have been destroyed. Logan would have gone crazy with grief…they wouldn't have recovered from it. I saw it, Jubilee. That day in the kitchen when I touched your hand. It took so long to sort through the images I got; it was only after I took in Edwin that I realised exactly how bad things could get. But we're all going to be ok now. Everybody. I'm going back to England tomorrow; I've outstayed my time here. Me and Vesper are hitching a ride with Excalibur."

"We'll keep in touch though, right?" Jubilee asked worriedly, and Heather got to her feet with a smile, nodding as she peeled off a glove. Leaning over, she tucked the covers tightly around the sleepy teenager and touched her hand against her cheek. After a moment, her smile increased and she nodded again.

"Wild horses couldn't stop us." She grinned and Jubilee slipped off into sleep with her own smile on her face.

Five months later, wide blue eyes looked around in wonder as noise and colour assaulted her senses. She was standing on a sidewalk as floats and acrobats and people wearing outrageous costumes danced and shimmied past them and confetti rained down on them like snow. Around her neck were strands of beads and she wore a flower in her hair as the music danced in her bones and made her grin like a lunatic.

Standing on either side of her, Logan and Remy ignored the festivities around them, concentrating most of their attention on the teenager who was practically vibrating from happiness between them. It had taken Jubilee until after Christmas to regain the rest of her strength, and she had spent the time confined either to bed or sofas to conserve what little strength she had left.

It was the first week of January when she'd finally been given the ok to resume normal activities, and the first time Scott had found her rollerblading down the Long Hall, he'd just stood and smiled instead of berating her. She seized her new chance of life with both hands and the intense enthusiasm and lust for life that she'd been born with and had soon been running rings around everyone once more.

As yet another float passed and beads were tossed at her, Logan looked over at Remy and growled "It had to be Mardi Gras, didn't it!"

Remy just grinned and shook his head. "I promise de Petite de world, an' you an' me, Canuck, we'll show it to her an' keep her safe at de same time."

Logan glanced down at her as she began to jump up and down, waving at Violet, Angelo and Paige who were leaning over a balcony on the far side of the street and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, but who'll keep the world safe from her?"

Finis

A huge thank you to all who have been reading this, and especially to those of you who have stuck with it from the beginning. This chapter has been a long time coming and I am REALLYglad I've finally gotten there.

And mostly, thank you to FionaH. You've been there since this story first crossed my mind, and you've been there to reign me in when I've killed yet another character (including Jubilee…several times…). You've really been what's kept me going – I promised you I'd finish it, and here it is, all done So thank you! Words are never enough.