Hello everyone! It's me again with a new story….and yes….I know I shouldn't be posting a new one when I haven't finished the others first, but I just couldn't help myself. No worries though….I haven't quit working on them, I've just put them on the back burner for a bit to chase down my inspiration and recollect my thoughts. Any-who…onto the story!
Sister Of The Wolverine
(Together We Run)
****Northwest Territories/Canada/1845****
In an upstairs room of a wealthy Manor-house, a young boy was suffering from a small coughing fit. Though he felt the need to cough worse than he allowed himself, he knew that he had to try and stay as quiet as he could to not disturb his five year old little sister who was curled into his side. The two were both sick so their parents had decided that it would be all right for them to share a bed for the time being so they could look after and comfort one another.
The boy was James Howlett and the little girl was Katniss. Both siblings had a somewhat pale completion due to the illness that they shared, though the sister was naturally a soft cream, like that of a porcelain doll, in the first place. They both had chocolate-brown eyes and Katniss even had small flecks of gold around the pupils of hers, but their hair was very different. While James had Dark, fluffy brown hair, his sister's was a reddish-auburn and slightly wavy.
The firs coughing fit the boy had was then followed by another which unfortunately caused the little girl to stir. She let out a small whimper in protest to both the sudden noise and the discomfort she felt from her fever. James ran his fingers through her hair to try and sooth her but the damage was done and her watery eyes opened none the less.
"You two are always sick." Their friend, Victor Creed, commented as he whittled a piece of wood with his sharp, claw-like fingernails.
He had come by earlier in the day to check on them and ended up staying late to keep them company. Katniss had been asleep through the entire visit till now and only just realized he was there. At the sound of his voice, her eyes lit up and she scrambled of the bed as gracefully as an excited five year old was able so as to run over to him so she could fling her arms around him in a hug.
"Victor!" She squealed happily, jumping onto his lap.
The boy smiled at her in return and set aside his carving to catch her, while being careful not to scratch her or nick her night-dress.
"Hello there, Kit." He greeted her with her nick-name as she nuzzled her head affectionately into his chest.
"You were sick when you were our age." James reminded him with a weak smirk as he watched the two from where he still lay.
Just then, the bedroom door swung open as a well-dressed man named John stepped in. He cast a civil yet disapproving glance at Victor who hastily stood up out of respect as he carefully set the man's daughter back on her own two feet
"Evening, Sir." Victor greeted.
"Evening, Victor." John replied back out of forced politeness. "I didn't realize you were still here."
"Daddy!" Katniss cheered feebly as she trotted over to the man who lifted her into his arms.
He then moved to place his little girl back into the warmth of the bed next to her brother before sitting himself down on the edge to check on them.
"I was just keeping Katniss and James company, Sir, if that's all right." Victor explained.
"Very kind of you." John reluctantly assented before turning his full attention back to his children. "Any better, son?"
"Still cold, father." James replied with a weak smile.
"And you, my angel?" He enquired soothingly, looking over to Katniss.
She only mumbled in response as she burrowed under the covers to snuggle back into her brother's side, burying her face in his fluffy red dressing-gown (robe).
"Just a mild fever." John claimed as he smoothed back the damp hair from his son's forehead. "You'll both be all right in the morning."
"You always say that." James retorted with a joking role of his eyes as he wrapped his arm around his sister to play with her hair again.
"And you always pull through, don't you?" Their father countered with a light chuckle.
"Yeah." James agreed with an impish grin.
Poor Victor watched the interaction with a hard yet sad expression knowing that he would never have a comforting family moment like that with his own father.
Speak of the devil—just then, the sound of a heavy fist pounding loudly against the front doors was heard, followed by the drunken shouting of a man named Thomas.
"Elizabeth! Elizabeth!" Thomas howled. "Elizabeth!"
"Your father's drunk again." John commented disapprovingly. "You should help him home, Victor."
"ELIZABETH!" Thomas continued to shout.
"It's not my name he's calling, Sir." Victor pointed out warningly.
They then heard the sounds of a scuffle coming up from the foyer and John immediately leapt towards the door to protect his wife who he could hear shouting fearfully from down stairs, startling his children in the process.
"Father!" James yelped.
"Stay where you are, James." His father ordered. "Look after your sister."
"Get off me!" Their mother, Elizabeth, yelled in a huff.
John ran from the room followed by Victor who looked back worriedly at his two best friends before he shut the door behind him. There was more scuffling and crashing followed by even more shouting. James held his sister tighter as she whimpered tearfully at all the harsh noise.
"You never loved him!" Thomas growled.
"I told you never to come back here!" John barked back angrily, followed by a loud POP of a shotgun.
Both James and Katniss jumped at the sound and Katniss let out a terrified squeak as she started to cry. James then jumped out of bed and ran for the door to find out what happened while his sister cried out his name as she tried to keep up without stumbling over the hem of her night-dress.
Elizabeth was shrieking and wailing by the time the two reached the upper balcony that looked over the front foyer where everything had taken place. They both glanced over the railing to see a shocking sight. Their father was lying in a pool of blood on the floor while Thomas held their struggling mother in one arm and a smoking shotgun in the other. Victor stayed crouched in a corner to keep out of the way.
They both ran hurriedly down the stairs to kneel by their father's side. Katniss was crying as she nuzzled her forehead into his chest while he grabbed onto James' nigh-shirt to bring him closer. He tried to mumble his last words but they only came out as incoherent gurgles before he finally breathed his last breath and lay motionlessly on the ground with James' shirt slipping through his fingers.
"James? Katniss?" Thomas called out tentatively to get their attention. "There are things you don't understand."
"Don't—" Their mother tried to argue only to be cut off mid-plea.
"I need them to know." He growled desperately.
"Don't, please." She begged.
"No more lies!" He barked in frustration.
They both turned their attention back to the children when they heard pained yet angry whimpers coming from Katniss. Both siblings had started shaking as what looked like bone-spikes pierced out from their hands. Three on each hand, sprouting from their knuckles, though Katniss' were thinner and not as long as her brothers'(to give you some idea…when they're adults, his are more like rulers while hers are more like pencils…if that makes any since and hers are only half the length of his).
James suddenly let out a raging scream before he leapt up an ran at Thomas with his claws ready to strike while his sister stayed crouched where she was, just staring horrifyingly at her new appendages. She only looked up at the sound of another POP from Thomas' shotgun which he had tried to fire at James only for Elizabeth to knock the barrel off course just in time.
James stabbed his claws through Thomas' chest, just at the base of his ribcage, using his momentum to slam the larger man against the wall out of vengeance for his father's murder. The man let out a grunt of pain at the impact and slowly slid to the floor with a sad grimace.
"That man… h-he wasn't you or your sister's father..." Thomas groaned shakily. "Son…"
James gasped in shock at this information and slowly pulled his claws out of the man, letting him collapse to the ground. He then turned to look at his sister who's watery eyes where now wide in confusion, not fully understanding the situation.
"Mommy!" Katniss cried as she finally stood up from the floor.
She hurried over to her mother with her arms opened for the woman to comfort her, not realizing her claws were still out, only to be roughly shoved away as the woman shuffled away from her with a look of fear on her face.
"What are you?" The woman spat in disgust.
With such a simple question, she made them feel like monsters. Ashamed and scared of what would happen if they stayed; James took his sister's hand and pulled her up so that the two of them could make a run for it. Katniss was so frightened and confused that she followed him without question, not even bothering to complain about her sore feet, seeing as they had to go bare-foot.
They just ran through the woods as fast as they could until James was suddenly tackled to the ground from the side, taking Katniss roughly down with him. The poor girl yelped in surprise as she scraped her knees in the process. James jumped back up as quickly as he could and stood protectively in front of her with his fist raised and ready for a fight only to see that it was Victor who had knocked them down.
"I didn't mean it!" James snapped, trying to sound tough while simultaneously trying to catch his breath. "I didn't mean it!"
"Yes you did!" Victor retorted with his own claws at the ready and breathing heavily. "He deserved it, and you gave it to him." He assured him as he grabbed hold of James' shoulders. "We're brothers, Jimmy. Do you realize that?" He questioned, using the boy's nick-name and then crouched down to help Katniss back onto her feet. "And you're my little sister, Kit. We're siblings, the three of us and siblings protect each other." He claimed adamantly as he whipped the tears from Katniss' eyes. "You both have to be hard now, hard so nothing can ever touch us."
"I want to go home." James claimed.
"We can't." Victor countered "We have to stick together no matter what and we take care of anyone who gets in our way. Can you do that, little brother?"
James could only tiredly nod his agreement as he pulled Katniss closer to try and sooth her shaking.
"What about you, little sister?" Victor asked not wanting her to feel left out.
"I'm scared." She whimpered sheepishly.
"Don't be." He assured her. "Because Jimmy and I are gonna keep you safe. Isn't that right, Jimmy?"
"Yeah." James agreed firmly as he gripped his sister's hand.
"Okay." She sniffled, feeling a bit braver now.
She gasped though, when they heard the vicious barking of a pack of hunting dogs that were being led by a group of angry men with guns who were clearly searching for them. They could see the light of the lanterns growing closer.
"I'm going down by the river!" One of the men called out to the others.
"They're coming." Victor pointed out nervously.
"Head over the hill! Hurry!" Another man called out.
"Can you run?" Victor asked them hastily.
James nodded, but Katniss was still looking fearfully in the direction of all the noise.
"Kit?" Victor urged, regaining her attention.
"Yeah." She whispered in the affirmative.
They quickly turned away from the hunting party and ran for their lives. Victor, pulled James by his shoulder and James, pulled Katniss by her hand.
"Keep on running." Victor encouraged them. "Don't look back."
"Okay." They agreed.
End of first chapter! I hope you liked it so far! This one will most likely be updated faster than the others, only because I find that movie based fanfics are easier to pop out than TV episodes or book chapters…Plus, it helps that I own the DVD, so I can watch it over and over again to keep my inspiration fresh.
Please review and let me know what you think or if you have any questions!