Just to let everyone know - The only thing that I own is Faelan, an original character based on one that I created for a role playing game. The rest is not my own property, I did not create Logan or any of the other Xmen.
And I apologize already, I am a college student so postings might not be right away. I will try to post a new chapter each weekend when I can.
Enjoy, Maghaseology.
CHAPTER ONE
I couldn't sleep. I tossed and I turned until finally I just had to get up. Glancing out the window, I suddenly knew why I was awake. Barefoot and in only my pajamas I left my room to walk through the forest. Quietly I placed foot after foot, following a call that only I could hear. I entered a clearing and stopped. Across the grass, sitting patiently, waiting for me was a large male wolf. He allowed me to walk up and kneel on the ground in front of him.
I reached my hand out and paused, this time waiting for him. He lowered his head and rested against my palm. A moment later I felt it, the sudden appearance of his consciousness in the back of my mind. Just a little nudge, not dangerous, not demanding, but there. I dropped my hand back to my side and stood. I closed my eyes and relaxed, asking the wolf conscious to come forward.
And then I changed for the first time. It wasn't painful, or awkward. It felt right, almost pleasant. A moment later I was down on all fours, coated in the same gray and white fur. I had his strength, his agility, his power. I saw him turn and trot to the edge of the clearing, where he stopped, looked back at me and continued on. The two of us ran through the woods together that night as he taught me to use the abilities that were now mine. Early the next morning he led me back to my house. In the backyard I transformed back into myself and watched the wolf disappear into the growing daylight. When I looked back at the house, I found my parents staring at me through the kitchen window. They had seen what I had done, and they looked scared.
On that day I had turned twelve years old.
"Faelan, I believe your assistance is needed down in the infirmary." I heard the professor's voice in my head. Professor Summers must have heard it too because he nodded at me, giving me permission to leave class. I grabbed my books and my bag and ran downstairs. A new mutant had just come in, but he had been injured and unconscious. He must have woken up. He was an interesting case, animal minded, like me, but unlike me, he was fully human. He was also filled with a type of metal that I was unfamiliar with, and his scent was like nothing I had ever encountered.
Professor Xavier met me outside the door, Dr. Grey beside him. She was scratched up, but looked otherwise okay. But I could smell her fear, and I'm sure the new mutant could too.
"How can I be of help, Professor?" I asked, dropping my things by the wall.
"It would seem our new… friend… has woken up and is a little disoriented. I was hoping you might be able to calm him down a little."
"I can see what I can do." I went to open the door.
"You might not want to enter in that form."
"What type of person is he?"
"He is called Logan, or the Wolverine." The professor answered before turning and leading Dr. Grey away from the room. It was all the information I needed. I opened the door just slightly before dropping down into a crouch. I sifted through the various animal consciousnesses in my mind until I found the one I wanted - the wolf. I transformed and used my new snout to push the door the rest of the way open.
I couldn't see him, but I could smell him. That unique scent now mixed with a certain level of confusion and fear. I dropped even lower to the floor and crept quietly into the room. He didn't know it, but I could hear him breathing and located him just on that factor. I turned only my head in his direction. His human mind was closed off to me so I reached out the only way the wolf mind knew how. I conveyed feelings of comfort and safety to him and finally I felt the animal mind slip a little.
"Logan!" I called. "Logan, you must control yourself! You need to come out of there and be the human you know you are." The animal jumped a little and I softened my voice. "Please, trust me."
We stared at each other for a few more moments before the metal claws retracted into his hands. "I'm going to transform back now." He nodded. Without moving I transformed slowly back into my human form. I came back in a low crouched position, one hand on the floor in front of me. My body may have changed but I made sure I retained a certain amount of the wolf's presence in case Logan snapped. When he didn't make a move, I stood. The only move he made was to eye my appearance.
When I had arrived at the Xavier School, I was given a special suit to be worn at all times. Essentially it was just a pair of leather pants and leather sleeveless top, something that could be worn as clothing, and I could just put on a jacket if I got cold. It actually was a suit that would transform with me, and be still on me whenever I transformed back into human shape. The top fit close to my body, but thankfully the legs of the pants were slightly looser. I kept my hair relatively short and colored like that of my first (and favorite) animal absorption. That was one of the cooler things about my powers - if I so chose, I could retain certain aspects of my absorptions in my natural appearance. For me it was the hawk irises and my wolf's gray and white colorings. It gave me a pleasantly unique look.
Logan stepped up, suddenly brave, and stared down at me. I made his collar bone, and just barely at that. His shoulders were twice my width and rippled with muscle. He was trying to intimidate me, I could smell it, but it wasn't going to happen.
"Who are you?" He asked his voice gruff.
"My name is Faelan."
"What's your real name?"
"That's something you aren't entitled to use." I glared up into Logan's eyes. "You can't fool me; I know you're true feelings." This made him step back.
"What? How? Can you read minds?" I smiled and laughed a little.
"Hardly," I took a step closer and lowered my voice. "I can smell it on you." I raised my face towards his neck and face. "I can smell your feelings, where you've been, and especially," I looked into his eyes. "What you've done." I turned and walked towards the door.
"What am I suppose to do now?" He called.
"See the professor."
"How do I find him?" I stopped in the doorway and turned my head to look at him.
"You don't. He finds you."
Professor X was waiting for me back at my room. He didn't have to say anything for me to know what he wanted.
"He's back; he's scared though, and it's manifesting itself as anger. He's trying to be intimidating and rough, but he's lost. He doesn't know who he is or where he's been." The professor nodded, taking in all I had said and waiting for me to continue with what he knew I was thinking. "There's something else, something I can't place. It's a scent I've never encountered before. I'm sorry, but I don't know what it is."
"It's alright Faelan. You've done an extraordinary job. I'm very proud of you." I smiled, taking in those words for all they were worth. "I guess I should go find him before he causes any trouble." I watched as he turned to leave the room.
"Professor," He stopped and looked at me. "Why did you call me in? Why not Kurt, or Dr. McCoy? Or even Wolfsbane? Why me?"
"I called you because you are the only one who truly knows how he feels right now. You were the only one who knew how to reach him. You did, and I hope you will continue to do so."
I sat in my room for a while after that, considering what Professor X had said to me. I didn't know anything about the other's past. I just knew them from the time when I arrived. I also sensed that there was something more to what the professor was saying, I just couldn't figure out what it was.
I needed to get some air, to clear my head. I grabbed my black leather jacket and keys and headed down to the garage. Upon turning eighteen, I went out and bought a bike. I purchased a sport bike; a black Ninja ZX-14. It was my baby, my black wolf as I affectionately called it. I fired up my bike to warm up and was about to put my helmet in place when a familiar scent invaded my nostrils.
"Can I help you, Professor Summers?"
"Where are you going?"
"Just out for a ride." Before he could speak again I added to my statement. "Alone." I pulled my helmet on, straddled the bike and sped out the garage door before he could stop me. Scott was overprotective of the female students and it drove me nuts. If Professor Xavier thought me having a bike was dangerous, he wouldn't have allowed me to get it.
I raced along the windy, wooded roads, passing between cars and trucks at dangerously close distances. I didn't care. Out here I finally felt free and comfortable.
The mansion had been my place of residence for the past six and a half years, but it had never quite felt like home. A lot of the other students tended to avoid me, mainly because I always knew what they were feeling; I could always sense the things they didn't want anyone else to know. So a lot of the time I was by myself just observing everyone else, learning things about them that they had no idea they were telling.
At the top of the mountain I stopped. The sun was beginning to set and it was casting beautiful shadows across the trees. A breeze blew and sent an entirely unique smell past me.
"How did you manage to get up here, Logan?" I turned to find him behind me. "Walk?"
"Yes actually," he glared at me when he walked past to look over the side of the cliff. "What are you doing up here? Jumping?"
"No, being alone, which you happen to be ruining."
"Really? I was told no one was supposed to leave the mansion without a buddy." He said the last part sarcastically, like he thought he thought he was being treated like a five year old.
"Then it looks like we both broke the rules, now if you don't mind I'd like to continue breaking them the right way."
"Fine, I was going to try and help-"
"I don't need anyone's help." I snapped. I slid my helmet back on my head and jumped on my bike. Once again, I left before Logan had a chance to stop me.
I didn't go back to the mansion that night, or the next. I didn't go back for a long while. Six years to be exact. I had realized something up on the ledge that night. The only thing I had ever known was the mansion was being a mutant. I didn't know anything of the rest of the world, of what it meant to be a real, normal person. So I put my powers aside, returned my hair and eyes to my normal browns and was accepted to Princeton University.
Six years later I graduated with not only an undergraduate's degree, but also my master's in Neuropsychology. As I walked across campus towards my soon to be old dorm room, I met Professor Xavier.
"We've missed you at the school, Faelan." I didn't say anything. "Have you made plans for what you'll be doing next?" I shook my head. "You know you are always welcome at the mansion. I spoke honestly when I said we missed you." There was a hint of something in his voice, but I refrained from thinking on it.
The truth was, as much as I loved college life, living on my own and whatnot, I still felt that disconnect from the rest of the world. My college friends didn't know about my mutation. They all just assumed I was highly intuitive, which was great but I hated hiding something big like that from them. And to be truly honest, there was someone at the mansion that I did miss.
I suddenly realized I was still standing in front of the professor, and that he had been present in my mind as I went through all of this.
"So I should expect you for dinner?" He smiled. I nodded my head. "See you then, my dear." He turned and made his way towards the car where Scott was waiting. I gave him a small wave of acknowledgement and continued on my way. I knew Professor Xavier would be sending a moving truck for all the things I had acquired in the past six years. All I had to do was take what I needed for tonight and tomorrow and make sure the rest was securely packed. It didn't take me long considering the amount of stuff that was going with me. I would be returning to the mansion as an adult, a full member of the X team. And that meant I was getting my own room.
At 6:30 I was insight of the mansion and stopped, viewing it from afar. The place hadn't changed in the six years I had been gone, which was somewhat comforting. I opened my senses to the surrounding area and found what I had always found out there, including that strangely unique scent which signaled the presence of one particular person.
I slid the visor of my helmet back down and my bike roared to life once more. Subconsciously, I sifted through the different consciousness in my mind and pulled a few to alter my appearance. I had grown my hair out since I had last been here. It was now straight and reached just below my shoulders. I changed it from its own plain brown back to the salt and peppered wolf's coloring, my eyes turning as well, this time to the wolf's gold.
I coasted up to the front doors of the mansion, cut the motor and shook my hair out as I lifted the helmet off my head. And then his scent enveloped me entirely and I turned to find Logan leaning in the doorway.