Special thanks to Jeanniebird for beta-ing!
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Of course the evening would end in blood. Looking back, none of the teenagers that now wearily approached the manor was surprised about that at all.
Well, let's be honest, kids from Xavier's academy for the gifted young did not get that many changes to go out and party. Few of the teachers would deem it responsible to let three teen-agers only half in control of their powers to go out anywhere without supervision. Let alone set them free in the nightlife of a small, mutant-fearing town as the one Xavier's estate grounds bordered on.
But most everyone had gone home for the summer or off on business, and in what could only be a congruent of misunderstandings supervision of the school and the few children staying over for summer had fallen to Logan.
That was when Rogue, Jubilee, and Bobby had grasped the possibilities of the situation and asked Wolverine for permission to go out the next Friday night.
Their physical exercise teacher made it half-way through several parent-like sentences, only to get side-tracked by truth. Sentences such as 'Don't do anything… I have probably done', 'Make sure to be home before… anyone that actually gives a shit has a chance to find out', before settling on an eloquent 'whatever the hell gets you lot outta my hair'.
They had had the most wonderful evening down in town. It was almost too good to be true. No one noticed anything weird about the three, people were nice and friendly –Rogue even got a comment on her 'radical hairdo'. Still, as the teenagers made their way home on foot, only to come up to a battered and broken fence at the entrance of the grounds, they could only admit that - yeah, it had been too good to be true.
Then again, as the threesome crept closer and closer to their mutual home, they had to admit this was looking less and less like an attack. Sure. There was the gate, and a wide track ran from there to the manor door. Sure, there was definitely blood mixed in with their trail. But whatever had been dragged across the dirt road, it had not been human. Too big for that. Also, the manor itself was strangely quiet; peaceful. Not the eerie quiet from after a battle. This was more a sleepy, night-time kind of quiet. And there was no smoke, no broken walls or any other devastation to see.
This did not seem like an attack from magneto. Or the brotherhood. This did not look like any form of attack at all.
In fact, the only thing out of place was a great, drooping silhouette out on the porch. It took them a while to register what it was, even when they had crept close enough to hear the buzzing flies. Rogue was the first to gag at the smell.
Jubilee cursed, and then actually spit out her gum, the taste ruined even for her. "What is it?"
Bobby, in a fit of bravery shuffled closer to the carcass, nose buried in his shirt; then turned back at a dead run, chocking. "Not sure. The head's missing. But I would guess a horse." He managed to spit out, when his retching had passed.
In the dark, three pair of eyes stared at each other, the white of their eyes too clear from fear. A dog barked, somewhere at a far-off farm. The leaves of the trees whispered softly to the wind.
Rogue tried to reason, "who would…?"
Ah, but there was no one there at the Xavier institute, was there? except...
"But- why would anyone…?"
An animalistic roar answered their shared question; a howl from the manor's insides. Followed by banging and a definite sound of something fragile breaking. More noises and the three teenagers followed the sounds down with their eyes in shared horror. Finally, the door banged open loudly; and there stood Logan, in a decidedly blood-soaked shirt, something dark and dripping from one toned arm.
The Wolverine took one look at them, barred his teeth, and then flung the horse's head down at their feet. "All right, who of you stupid fucks thought this'd be funny?"
"What the…?" Rogue started over Jubilee's "Jesus, Logan.", and then both cut off in shock at Bobby's squeal and raised hands: "Please don't eat us!"
Logan took one menacing step forward before prodding a finger at the trio. "You kids wanna play innocent now? You suggesting this damned mare slaughtered herself on the porch, then gnawed up the stairs by the teeth and crawled into bed with me?"
"Logan, juck!" Jubilee admonished, as Bobby turned to find more to relieve his stomach of.
The snarling man lost some of that certainty, eyes roving from one to the other, then down the carcass, then darting up at their still-dark surroundings with the usual suspicion. "Well, if it damn well wasn't any of you three, who the hell was it..?"
The three teens just continued to stare back, unwilling to provide any unwanted answers, but also unable to come up with any nice once. After all, who else could get into Xavier's ground, as well-guarded by security measures as it was? Who else had the strength to drag a grown horse all the way to the manor door…?
Even Wolverine had run out of suspects, it seemed, for he straightened and looked back at the manor with a worried frown.
It was then that the completely unexpected orange blur freight-trained into Logan, burying both man into a wall.
"Happy Birthday, Jimmy!" a completely too happy Sabertooth sang, "I got you a pony!"
When both men had disentangled from the other, rolling away, Wolverine got to his feet accompanied by the usual 'snikt' from his claws. "Victor," the feral, darker man claimed. "I knew I smelled something rotting, but I thought it was the horse. I'm going to decapitate you for that."
The blonde hulk just chuckled, "by all means, try. But if by some quirk of fate you succeed, please don't take me to bed with you," Victor gestured at Logan's blood-soaked shirt, "pillow-hugger."
As both brothers rolled across the lawn - intent on doing lasting damage to the other, but predictably only succeeding in doing such to their surroundings - the three teens could only commiserate they would not be getting any rest after their late night out. It was a resigned, tired realization. Morning was coming fast, and the first rays of sun touched the last of the standing garden statues, only for it to topple into rubble when it blunted an airborne Sabertooth's flight. This was going to be another one of those long days.
Why would it come as a surprise to anyone Sabertooth would indulge in a gift-fiving habit shared by cats and mob-bosses alike?
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