First Story:
Wolverine travels across the Mojave Desert on his motorcycle, en route to his friend Johnny’s funeral in Barstow. As he rides, he thinks about death, and how is makes no sense to him. Logan’s view of death may be a little skewed, however, as he thinks about how hard he is to kill.
(flashbacks)
He recalls being eaten by a dinosaur in the Savage Land and numerous tussles with ninjas. Logan had even been trampled by horses trying to escape poachers - he still likes horses, but killed the poachers.
He’s been scorched by Phoenix’s fire, incinerated by a Sentinel’s blast and fought the alien Brood. Wolverine has survived gunfire from Nazis and more Blackbird crashes than he can count.
Taking a break from his ride to sit by a campfire, Logan remembers his bloody battles with Sabretooth and his first encounter with the Hellfire Club. Another first encounter, with the Hulk and Wendigo, reminds Logan that it’s good to have friends.
(present)
Johnny loved to hear about Logan’s adventurous encounters. He was in the merchant marines when he and Logan first met. They were drinking buddies, first and foremost. They also made plenty of money, fighting together in paid matches.
Logan arrives in Barstow and settles into a trashy motel for the night. He thinks about a particular night with Johnny, when they were celebrating with some local girls after winning another fight.
(flashback)
In an alley, they were confronted by a group of men who think the fight was fixed and one of them pulls out a shotgun. Logan denies that they cheated and the man fires at him.
Johnny leaps in front of Logan, taking the bullet in his back. As Johnny collapses, Logan unsheathes his claws in rage and slashes at their attackers.
He returns to Johnny’s side and berates him for taking the shot, as Logan would have healed from it, and asks Johnny what he was thinking. Johnny tells Logan he wasn’t thinking anything, it’s just what you do for a friend.
The shooting disabled Johnny, and he had to use a cane. Although the cane slowed him down, it was his wife Grace that got him to stop and put all the bad days behind him.
(present)
After the funeral, Logan talks with Grace and tells her he goes to too many funerals these days. Grace tries to give Logan the cane Johnny used, but he tells Grace that Johnny has given him enough already.
Logan leaves on his motorcycle, saying “Goodnight, Johnny”.
Second Story:
In the icy confines of his room, Bobby Drake jolts awake. He turns on the light and trods across to the thermostat and turns it down, although everything is already covered in icicles.
After a freezing-cold shower, Bobby sits down at his desk. Pulling out a sheet of paper, he starts to write a letter to Scott Summers, tendering his resignation from the X-Men.
Bobby writes that although he has always been loyal to Scott, that loyalty is all that is keeping him with the X-Men.
(flashback)
He recalls the night he first met Scott, years ago. Bobby was walking his girlfriend, Judy Beasley, home when a group of teenage boys started throwing rocks at him because he was a mutant. Scott arrived on the scene, blasting the ground with his optic blast and scaring the teenagers away.
Bobby remembers seeing past the image of a skinny kid with weird glasses and seeing a hero and a leader. A yearning to be like Scott is why Bobby joined the X-men.
(present)
Recalling the practical jokes he’s played on his teammates during the years, Bobby is sure most of them think he hasn’t matured much over the years. The Institute is full of kids now, and Bobby can’t tell if they’re getting younger or he’s getting older.
A memory of playing videogames with Angelo Espinosa, who was later crucified on the school’s front lawn, makes Bobby shy away from getting to know any of the students.
When his powers first manifested, Bobby hated the cold chill and the feeling of ice coating his bones. Now he welcomes the cold and the ice, as he feels the ice protects him.
Bobby looks at a picture of the original five X-Men and thinks of how they all have changed, except him. Archangel and Cyclops suffered at the hands of Apocalypse, Jean died, Beast has regressed to his cat-like form and Professor Xavier spawned Onslaught.
Realizing that he has changed as well, Bobby writes that the X-Men have been his family for as long as he can remember, which makes it so hard to leave. He knows what can happen when you’re not around when your family needs you, recalling the attack on his father by Graydon Creed’s men.
William Drake was attacked because Bobby was an X-Man, and that almost made Bobby leave the team to lead a normal life where his father would be proud of him.
Bobby hopes Scott and the others can forgive him, but he just can’t be an X-Man anymore. He has to try and find a normal life for himself and resign. Bobby signs the letter and puts it in his drawer, where it joins a huge stack of previously written resignation letters.
Leaving his room, he encounters Hank, who has eaten the last of Bobby’s cereal. Peeling down the hall in pursuit of his friend, Bobby begins another day as an X-Man.
