Hey, guys! I decided I'd make a fear fic for Wolfsbane, one of my favorite characters in the X-Men comics and X-Men: Evolution alike! This, as shown in the summary, takes place post Season 4, and it deals both with a lifelong fear Wolfsbane's never revealed until now and how it's reacted to, or, in some cases, taken advantage of. This is meant to be funny as much as frightening, by the way. And of course it's meant to be fun. It's a two chapter story, as well.
Things To Note:
Not only does this take place after the fourth season, but it's both at the start of the next school year and with Evan Daniels AKA Spyke reunited with the X-Men at Bayville High.
In contrast to the show, Wolfsbane has the ability to talk coherently in ANY form, not just her human and hybrid ones.
I own none of the characters. They all belong to X-Men: Evolution
OPHIDIOPHOBIA
Chapter 1-Wolfsbane Gets A Wake Up Call
It was the start of a wonderful week in Bayville High School. Apocalypse had been taken down and all was well with the world at last. And best of all, now that it was fall, the mutants at the school, whether they were X-Men or Brotherhood, had a good, brand new year to anticipate. This was going to be a lot nicer for them than they'd known in a while. Or at the very least, it'd SEEM this way. It wasn't quite going to turn out like that.
Why? Because no sooner had one mess been cleaned, with numerous loose ends tied up, than was another disaster just waiting to happen. It wasn't as severe as the previous ones, but it was going to be rather significant in some ways, especially for the student it was centered around and about to happen to. Rhane Sinclair, alias Wolfsbane, was attending her first class of the new school year, a science class with Professor Hank McCoy, AKA Beast. She was of course with her fellow students, be they New Mutants, X-Men or Brotherhood students, and this appeared to be just a regular science class like it usually was. This was not to last, however. Not at all.
"Okay, everyone, as you know, this is the beginning of a new school year, and so we are going to be doing science class in a new way." Beast said as he began writing on the blackboard with a piece of chalk. Everyone nodded and got out their paper to write down what he was now jotting down on the board. "Furthermore, to begin this new way, you should now I have a rather interesting surprise for all of you, one which I got last summer." "Really?" asked Avalanche. "So what is it going to be?" asked Cyclops. "I think he's about to get to that, Summers." Avalanche said snippily. "No shit, Alvers." Cyclops barked back. The two may have helped on the same side with taking down Apocalypse, and they may not have been quite as hostile towards each other as they once were, but said hostility still existed.
"Guys, please." Jean Grey begged. "It's the start of a new year." "Couldn't you try just once to get through at least a day or more without going for one another's throats?" Shadowcat begged. Although Cyclops was about to lift his shades to blast Lance and Lance was using his powers already to shake the floor, unknowingly doing the entire classroom even though he just meant to do it in the area Cyclops was in, the two were softened just enough by the words of the girls they cared most about to back out, though it would not have worked like this if they still had as big a mad-on for each other as they used to.
But it did work, and so Scott let go of his shades and Lance put a halt to his powers. They just gave one another a glare, whispered: "Do not test what little patience I've got for you right now, buster." and turned to their papers. "Thank you, girls." Beast said. "Especially since, I'm afraid, Mr. Alvers, your charging up of your powers shook this classroom, though thankfully it was minor enough so we all managed to stay upright." "Oh…" Avalanche said, embarrassed but not apologizing even though he didn't mean it this way. "Which is more than can be said for the supplies!" pointed out Evan Daniels AKA Spyke, who'd recently rejoined Bayville High after a heartfelt farewell to the Morlocks he was with for a time.
Indeed, all of the supplies had fallen to the floor and the blackboard had almost gotten unhinged. Everyone was shocked, including Avalanche himself, and then Scarlet Witch said: "I'll clean it up." with a sigh. "Nice going, rockhead!" Toad remarked. "You sure know how to shake things up!" added Blob. "Shut the fuck up, tongue and tubby!" snapped Avalanche. "This was not what I meant to do!" "But it means you still need control of your powers, huh?" asked Quicksilver. "Put a sock in it, speedy!" Avalanche snarled. "I'm on the edge." "My…" Rhane gaped. "What?" asked Lance as he turned to her. "The way you just snarled…it outdoes even me when I'm in my wolf form!"
"OOOOOH! Should he try to out-howl you, too?" asked Quicksilver just as Wanda's magic had fixed every bit of the mess but one, to which Wolfsbane rolled her eyes and then Lance said: "You'll give a howl of pain after class if you don't stuff it, Maximoff!" warned Avalanche. "Man, the first day of school an' there's ALREADY an uproar." Rogue sighed. "How we survive this kind of life, I'll never understand." Nightcrawler agreed. No one had noticed, however, what Wanda had not been able to fix yet with her magic. Especially since she thought it was all done, so she stopped. "Thank you for fixing up everything, Wanda." Beast said. "Sure thing." Wanda spoke.
What was it Wanda had not fixed? Oh, you're about to find out. Because while Lance was saying: "Oh, and Professor? I'm sorry I made this mess…I didn't mean to…" and Beast replied: "Apology accepted, Lance. But try to control your temper…this is class time, and a new school year, at that." a very large, beautiful, powerful and colorful snake, a python, to be totally precise, was slithering across the classroom, looking very curious. It became especially curious when it noticed Rhane, for some reason, and slithered right up to her. She didn't notice, nor did anyone, even Beast. That is, not until she felt something around her waist.
"Huh?" Rhane said. "Why do I feel something wrapped around my waist?" But she then looked down and saw it was the very python that had slithered to her desk. It looked at her right in the eyes, and then flicked out its tongue a few times before giving a quick hiss, and slithering right off of her, back down onto the floor. Rhane's eyes opened wide in fright, and then she let out a long, terrified scream as she leapt across the room, changed to her full wolf form so she'd be able to hide better and landed behind Beast's desk, cowering so no one could see her and also shaking with fear, every fur on her lupine body standing up.
"HUH?" exclaimed everyone in the class. "Rhane, what's going on? Why did you just jump like that?" asked Spyke. "And where did she go, for that matter?" asked Toad. "For once, you asked a good question!" Lance stated. Beast, who was very shocked, then turned to his desk and saw Wolfsbane trembling and whimpering with fear like a wolf pup. "Please…" she gasped, barely able to speak due to how petrified she was. "Keep it…away…" Beast asked: "Rhane, I do not understand. What has spooked you so badly?" "S-S-S-S-S-S…" stammered Rhane, but then Rogue asked: "Are y'all tryin' ta say snake?" Then Shadowcat added: "'Cause that's what just got in here somehow!" Everyone now noticed the snake, and though only Wolfsbane was scared, all were rather surprised to see a python in the class on the first day of school.
"My God!" exclaimed Beast, and then he quickly ran over to grab his python, doing so before saying to it: "Ophelia, I don't know what you're doing out of your cage, but we need to get you back in there." The snake, to everyone's confusion, seemed to calm down in his hands, and then she just lay there flicking her tongue out while he walked back to his desk. "Ophelia?" asked Toad. "And he knows that snake?" asked Jean, who was as confused as everyone else. "I don't understand what's going on…" Iceman said. "Neither do any of us." Jubilee added. "I'll be more than happy to explain as soon as I get Ophelia back in her cage." Beast stated. But then he saw that, where Wolfsbane was cowering under his desk, broken pieces of class and the contents of Ophelia's cage were scattered all over the floor. "Oh, dear…" he said.
"Professor?" asked Rhane, and then Beast said. "Rhane, I know you're frightened, but you have to get out from under there. Especially since all four of your feet are cut and bleeding! Dear God!" "What?" Wolfsbane asked, but then she noticed he was right and that she was also crouching on sharp glass. Then she turned to move, only to see Ophelia right in front of her, and she almost went white enough to pass for a white albino wolf. Then she got paralyzed with fear, and Wanda, realizing what was going on with her powers, then quickly said: "Hold on, sorry I missed that last spot and let all this happen!" She was embarrassed she'd managed to miss the broken cage, but she used her powers to both get Wolfsbane out from under the desk and among the class again, as well as to repair Ophelia's cage, contents, glass and all, and then teleport the python back into it. Beast said: "Thank you for helping out once more, Wanda." He then put the cage onto the desk and said: "Well, class, I have quite a bit of explaining to do now…"
As Scarlet Witch used her powers one last time to heal Wolfsbane's bleeding paws, to which Wolfsbane said: "Oh, thank you, Wanda." and Wanda replied: "Sure thing." Beast said: "All right, first thing's first. You probably realize now that I know this snake, and that is due to my having bought her last summer. Wanted a pet of some kind and I decided on a snake. I named her Ophelia, after the character in Hamlet, one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, and I decided to bring her here so she would make science class more interesting, plus be a source of learning further for the lot of you in a way outside of the norm."
"That doesn't sound half bad…" Scott said. "As long as she stays in the cage, that is." Kitty added. "It sounds real cool, actually!" Toad said. "This from someone who can easily relate to a thing like that, Tolensky!" Blob remarked. "Hey, at least I'm not the gigantic megatub around here!" Toad retorted. "But Toad's right. It could be cool…" Quicksilver spoke. "And especially if we can use her to make Wolfsbane feel like a puppy sissy girl whenever possible, now that we know she's afraid of her…" Everyone had a comment about Ophelia. Some were positive, some were negative and some were in between. Some were about her being here and others about her chosen name, and still more about how frightened Wolfsbane had been to see her. Once they died down, though, Beast then added on another part of this.
"As much of a big talk about as she's seemed to cause, I brought her here not knowing you would be afraid of her, Rhane." He looked to Rhane, who had calmed down a bit, and then she said: "It's not just her, Professor." Everyone looked to her, and Beast asked: "Come again, Rhane?" Wolfsbane then explained: "I would react this way even if I saw a tiny snake…I'm…I am so frightened of snakes. All of them. I've been this way since I was a little girl…I have such a horrible case of ophidiophobia…" "Huh? Ophidiophobia?" asked Blob. "Fear of snakes, shit-wit." Avalanche told him. "Oh…" Blob replied. "HEY! DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME SHIT WIT!" "Guys, cool it!" Jean said. "Unless you wanna be frozen solid!" Iceman added. "Bobby, there's no need for that!" Jean added. "I have it under control…"
"If I may continue," Beast said, "I am very sorry, Rhane. I was not aware you had a phobia of snakes. I wish you had told me sooner. Then I would have left her at home." "But I didn't think I'd need to tell anyone." Wolfsbane replied, embarrassed. "Since the beans are spilled, though, I should explain…" "That you're a whimperin' widdle puppy wuppy?" asked Quicksilver mockingly. "SHUT UP!" barked Wolfsbane, just loud enough to silence him. She then said: "…I should explain where this comes from." Her heart had calmed down its fast pace just enough for her to tell Beast. "When I was a little girl, a long snake came along while I was playing outside. And it was a venomous snake, too. I didn't see it coming, but it struck when it saw me, most likely because it perceived me as a threat. It bit me right on my midriff, one of its fangs penetrating my navel…" She changed back to human form and then pulled up her shirt, a second later revealing fang marks, one below her belly button, the other within it.
"I've still got the scar." Everyone was aghast. She then put her shirt back down and went on: "…and after I fell over in shock, it slithered off. But I was dying. If my father hadn't come at the time he did and seen what was happening, and thus gotten me to the hospital for a vaccine when he did, hell, if I hadn't squeezed out the words of what had happened with what little breath and consciousness I had left, I probably would not be here talking to you right now. As such, I've been deathly afraid of any and all snakes since then. Even the non-venomous ones." "What a story…" gasped Kitty. "We had no idea…" added Kurt. "You could have died…" put in Boom-Boom. "And nearly did." Wolfsbane stated. "I'm sorry if I startled all of you with my reaction, but even harmless snakes make me break down in fear. If you're going to have Ophelia as a pet, could you please keep her at your house?"
"If she frightens you this much, of course." Beast said. "Oh, Wolfsbane, you poor girl…" Spyke put in. "To think what kind of school year this would have been if Ophelia had been kept here…" commented Avalanche. "Funny you should say that, considering it's essentially your fault Ophelia broke out of her cage in the first place, Alvers." Cyclops remarked. "What the hell are you talking about, Summers?" asked Avalanche angrily. "See, when you did that little let go of your powers, it made a lot of things shake and/or fall apart. INCLUDING OPHELIA'S CAGE UNDER PROFESSOR MCCOY'S DESK! So you're the reason she got free, and thus the reason poor Rhane nearly died of a heart attack!" Lance realized he was right, but covered this under an immensely brash stream of words: "Yeah? You're the one who started our argument and made me ready to attack by asking a stupidly obvious question, so it's actually your fault!" "Bullshit!" snapped Scott. "I just asked a simple question. You made a snarky remark about it and started it yourself!" "BOYS!" shouted Jean and Kitty in unison, and once more, knowing what this would lead to, they sat down, went silent and refused to even look at each other.
"Rhane, you've clearly had quite a traumatic moment," Beast said, ignoring how Scott and Lance had nearly gotten into another quarrel, "so if you'd like to take the day off and recover from this, you may go. I won't assign you any homework. It's my apology for bringing this snake in without knowing you feared them." "Thank you, Professor. Your apology is accepted." Rhane said. She walked out the door, gave Quicksilver a quick glare for mocking her, and then said to Lance: "By the way, Lance, don't beat yourself up too much about this. You didn't know the cage containing Ophelia was present, nor that I was afraid of snakes. What you did was an accident. What Peitro did, however, wasn't, and Peitro? For making fun of me with complete disregard for my feelings like this? Screw you."
Without another word, she went on out and made her way back to her bunk upstairs, after taking care to close the door behind her. Then Beast said: "I am going to continue this class now, but if any of you would like to have a look at Ophelia before I bring her home for good, you may do so after class." So he went on with science class as he would have before, and at the end of it, Toad said: "Man, this sucks! Sure, we got to all have a nice look at that snake, but we can't keep it up every science class, all because Rhane has to fall apart with fear every time she sees any sort of snake!" This was as the X-Men went back to their bunks and the Brotherhood returned to their boarding house. Then Blob said: "Still, it doesn't have to be ALL bad…" "Of course not!" Quicksilver put in. "I mean, what if we were to use Wolfsbane's fear as a source of fun?" Then he noticed Lance had been quiet the whole way.
"Lance?" asked Quicksilver. "You haven't said a word the whole trip back." Toad said. "What's the matter, Avalanche?" asked Scarlet Witch. "Nothing's the matter. I just don't have a whole lot to say, okay?" Avalanche answered abruptly. "Whatever…" Quicksilver said. "I think that, should we do it the right way, what Wolfsbane's got as fear, we could use as FUN…" "Do go on…" said Blob, thinking this sounded interesting along with Toad. Avalanche and Scarlet Witch just ignored the three of them as Toad added in: "Wait…what do you mean? What kind of fun?" "I mean…" Quicksilver said as the five Brotherhood members entered their boarding house and he dashed over to a seat, sitting down as Blob and Toad looked to him, while Lance and Wanda just walked into the kitchen for some soda, "that Wolfsbane, as we've seen, is scared of snakes."
"No duh." Blob said. "So what's the point?" "The POINT, fat boy," Quicksilver told him, "is that we've been picking on the X-Losers in ways that are trite. Cliché. Predictable. All around old fashioned. Dumb. Repetitive. Mundane. Old school. Second rate. Conventional. We should go to the next level in terms of making life utterly miserable for them, and since Wolfsbane has such a dreadful, crippling fear of snakes…" Suddenly, Blob and Toad opened their eyes widely, and then Toad asked: "Quicksilver?" Blob added on: "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" as a question to Toad. "I think he is, and I'm betting it's just what I'm thinking!" Quicksilver spoke. A second later, all three had slasher smiles across their faces. It was clear they were going to take advantage of Wolfsbane's ophidiophobia, and have fun at her expense. Whatever they meant to do, a single fact was certain. These three were up to NO good.
TO BE CONTINUED…
So, how did you like it, everyone? Please rate and review this story!