Disclaimer: I do not own Logan, the X-Men or any of their cool stuff. Marvel and 20th Century Fox own them, much to my dismay. I am simply borrowing them for my own wicked pleasure, especially Logan. Angela, Buzz, Totem, Chasca, Sam and a whole mess of other characters DO belong to me, as well as the concept for this story, so no borrowing unless you ask first!

Warning! This is the third part of an ongoing saga! If you have not read "Torn Asunder" and "Devil Inside", this story will not make sense!

AN: Greetings readers! I am back from my vacation with a shiny new story for you! First, a couple of notes. One: Until otherwise noted, all chapters are from Angela's point of view. Two: Italics will indicate Logan's POV for early chapters, although I also use them for written messages, notes or emails within the story. It will be obvious which is which. Three: Single quotes are used for thoughts as well as telepathic communication, since that's basically thinking at each other. Any errors regarding canon characters are my own and I apologize for them profusely. So, without further ado, here's the next installment in the ongoing saga of Logan and Angela!

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The Paragon of Animals

Prologue

He sat crouched on a low branch, hidden by the boughs of the massive spruce. Not a single muscle so much as twitched as he waited with infinite patience for his prey to come within range. Just a little closer, a few more feet and he could spring upon it. Moments later it took a few tentative steps towards the tree where he was poised, searching for a place where it could still find a few blades of grass that hadn't been completely killed by the first snow.

The attack happens quickly in a flurry of churned snow and flashing claws. He leapt from the branch with a speed that was at odds with his size, falling upon the deer before it has a chance to react to the sound of his passage through the branches. It's over in seconds and he slashes the carcass open, tearing out the heart and devouring it first. It isn't until he's cutting off large chunks of flesh to eat that the memory floods his mind, taking him back to another place, another time, one so long ago that it would boggle the sanest of minds. To him, however, it's overwhelming.

He was a man, back then. He can remember that, being a man. But even then, he was an animal. He'd taken down another deer not unlike the one before him. And that girl was back, the one with bright red hair. She was talking to him like he was man, not at all frightened with the changes happening to him. She's doing something, hanging things on a line while he butchers the carcass. She's surprised at how much he's changed, becoming a man of the forest, a natural hunter (predator). She asks how he learned such things and he says, "I don't know, it's just, you know…an urge."

He shakes his head to rid himself of the memory. He isn't a man. He killed that girl (Rose, her name was Rose and I loved her), buried his claws in her and held her as she died. Even as that fleeting thought breaks through the haze of his mind, the face of the woman in his arms changes again and again. He sees a beautiful woman with long black hair like silk, blood staining her kimono. He blinks and she's now a pretty young girl with blond hair, some of it matted to the side of her head where her head impacted with a wall. Another blink and he's holding a woman wearing army fatigues, her hands clenched to her stomach to try and stanch the flow of blood from the knife wound, her eyes locked with his as she smiles. Again he blinks and she's a lovely young girl, barely a woman, her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail except for the shocking white locks that frame her face, her face serene, her skin ice cold.

He throws his head back and howls with grief and rage, frightening the few remaining birds and animals into retreating. With supreme effort, he forces the memories back down, trying to lock them back into the dark corner where they came from. He doesn't want to see these things, doesn't want to know. The visions finally retreat and he falls back upon the carcass, eating his fill and leaving the rest for scavengers. He cautiously stalks back to his lair for the night, exhausted beyond all reason. While he sleeps, more bits and pieces will come back to him, little flashes of other places, other lives, other people dead because of him. He whimpers in his sleep, the pain of the past mingling with the pain of the present. It's too much for him, too much for so simple a creature to process. He may have been a man once upon a time, but that was then. Now he is what he is, an animal, overcome by his instincts and the pain of a life lived too long. Which is fine, as far as he's concerned.

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Chapter 1.

It took more than three days for the storm up in Alberta to pass. In fact, it took almost a week. As I waited, I spent most of my time in the Danger Room, beating up everything that it could throw at me and begging Buzz to program more. I stopped teaching, my heart no longer in it, and whatever time wasn't spent killing virtual opponents was spent in a kind of white haze. I could hardly bear going to sleep, usually dropping into an exhausted slumber in the wee hours of the morning. Even then I was haunted by his many faces, from the gentle one reserved just for me in our most private moments to the feral snarl he gave me before disappearing into the wild. I was cold all the time. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been warm.

Rogue was still in a coma then, her body healed but her mind still refusing to come back. I went to see her at least once a day, hoping that by telling her stories about the man we both loved would help her come back to us, but she stubbornly refused to wake up. I'd grown to love her like she was my own. She was a little younger than my Emma would have been, but that didn't matter. She was the only one who would have understood what I was going through.

Out of concern for Rogue's condition, the Professor called in a colleague of his to help out. Dr. Hank McCoy was a former student of Xavier's and had gone on to become of the foremost experts on mutation in the world. Despite his outward appearance, he was one of the gentlest people I've ever met. Sam was thrilled when he appeared at the door two days after what I'd begun to think of as "The Alberta Disaster". Sure, our mission to save Scott had been a success, but the price that had been paid was too high as far as I was concerned. Scott wisely stayed away from me during that week, knowing that there was nothing he could say to me that would make me feel better.

I just wanted Logan back.

Six days after we got back, Charles asked me to come to his office. I was in the middle of another Danger Room scenario, fighting a bunch of virtual enemies while the angry sounds of Ministry, Rammstein and other bands filled the air. I ended the program, pausing a moment to catch my breath before grabbing a quick shower. I walked slowly to his office, my feet taking me there automatically while my mind continued to obsess over that last moment in the woods with Logan. Was there something I could have done differently? Something I could have said? I didn't know then and I still don't know.

Charles called out to me to enter before I could knock, a habit of his I desperately wished I could break. I pushed the door open and stopped dead. I had thought he wanted to talk to me alone, but there were three other people in there with him. Sam sat on the loveseat, his bulk taking up more than half of it. Chasca stood near the window, her bat-like wings folded around her with Totem sitting near her in one of the chairs at the chessboard. I took a moment to compose myself and closed the door carefully behind me.

"Professor." I said as I took a seat in an armchair.

"Angela, how are you?" He asked, his features carefully neutral.

"I know you don't need to ask. So why don't we cut the bullshit and get right down to business, ok?"

"Very well." He moved his chair around to the front of the desk. "I just wanted to let you know that the weather in Alberta has finally let up. You can go any time to search for Logan."

"Good. Have Storm get the jet ready, I can be ready to leave in an hour." I stood up to leave.

"Angela, wait." He said. "You can't go alone."

"Oh yeah? Watch me."

"Please, sit down and hear me out." I looked at him warily but complied, lowering myself back to the chair. "I know you are the one best equipped to get Logan back, but you will need help while you're out there. The other Weapon X mutants have been in and out of that area since he…disappeared. I believe they are trying to get him back as well."

"So what? There's no way I'm risking anyone else out there!" I said defensively. "I'm not stupid! I know that's why these guys are here. You want me to take them with me. The answer is simple. Hell no."

"Angela, please." Totem said and I snapped my head around. "The Professor did not ask us to do this."

"What are you talking about?"

"We volunteered." Sam replied and I turned to him slowly. "We weren't the only ones. All of Beta team wanted to come. So did Scott."

"It's true." Chasca piped in. "But we are the ones that the Professor said would be most helpful."

"No, there's no fucking way." I turned back to Xavier. "Professor, I can't take them with me! Scott sure, Sam maybe. But…"

"I understand your reasons, Angela." He said. "But I assure you, this is the best team to go with you."

"How do you figure? No offense to Kyrohyou, but it wasn't all that long ago he was trying to seduce me! And Chasca? She's barely trained!"

"She was also living on her own in the jungles of Peru for four years before we picked her up, not to mention that Logan saw to her training personally. Sam is a fully trained X-Man, even if he hasn't been active for very long. And you know that I removed all the telepathic controls that both you and Kyrohyou had implanted. There's also the fact that he has the same training you and Logan do."

"Charles, I hear what you're saying. But Logan is very dangerous right now. I don't know if anyone else will be able to get through to him except me! I can't guarantee their safety if they go out there!"

"We know the risks, Angela." Totem said. "But I made a vow to you and this is how I choose to honor that vow. I would be dishonored if I did not try."

I glared at him. "That's not fair."

"That is correct. It is also true."

Chasca stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. "And where he goes, I go. Is that not what you do when you love someone?" I glared at her too and she just looked at me impassively. "You go after Logan because you love him, do you not? So I will go with Kyro, because I love him."

I turned to Sam. "So what's your excuse?"

"You and Totem are stealthy, clever and fast but you're not strong. Who besides Logan would you want at your back if not someone who can uproot a tree with his bare hands?"

I gritted my teeth in frustration. "I can't win this, can I? You'll just follow me if I try to go alone, won't you?"

"To hell and back if we had to." Sam replied firmly. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for both you and Logan. But it's also my duty as an X-Man to help you. You might as well accept it."

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. "Fine, whatever. I know when I'm beat." I looked back to Charles. "When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning. Storm will take you in the jet and drop you off where you were before. You will each have a communicator so we can keep in contact with you as well as the short range ones that we use on missions. They're all rechargeable with a small solar device, so you won't have to worry about that."

"Fine. Anything else?"

"How long do you think it will take you to find him?"

"I don't know. He might be completely feral right now, but his training is too ingrained. He'll be hiding and if he thinks he's being stalked, he'll run. He's very, very good at what he does; probably the best and I don't just mean the killing. If he doesn't want to be found, the odds are small that we'll be able to find him."

"I understand. In that case, we'll arrange to bring you supplies once every ten days until you find him or you are forced to give up."

"I won't give up. As long as I'm alive, I won't give up until I get him back." Tears suddenly stung my eyes and I swallowed hard to fight them back. "I can't live without him."

Xavier just smiled and reached over to clasp my hand briefly before moving his chair back to the desk. "Now that this is settled, I'll let you all go to get packed. Good luck and Godspeed."

We filed out of his office and went our separate ways to prepare. When I got to my room there was a note from Hank taped to the door.

Angela,

I have heard about your mission and wish to examine you once more before you go. I know you have an amazing constitution, but I will feel better knowing you are suffering no lasting effects from your injuries. Please come to the infirmary as soon as you can.

Hank

I growled in frustration and made my way to the elevator. For someone who's supposed to be so smart, he sure had some peculiar blind spots. I'd already demonstrated my healing factor for him, but he was still insistent that I could have suffered some kind of permanent brain damage or something when Logan hit me. Never mind that I have an adamantium skeleton, skull included. Never mind that it hadn't actually killed me or anything. But I liked Hank so I could indulge him if he felt it was necessary.

The elevator opened onto the polished steel corridor of the lower level and I turned towards the infirmary. I paused for a moment to check on Rogue, whose condition hadn't changed in the slightest despite Hank's efforts. I promised her I'd visit her before I left and went to Hank's office.

He was sitting at his massive desk, hunched over a computer. He paused every now and then to write something down in a notebook or take a sip of coffee, but was otherwise focused on the monitor before him. I tapped on the doorframe and he looked up and grinned.

"Angela! So good of you to come!" He greeted like he'd invited me to tea. "Please, have a seat." He indicated a chair next to his and I sat down. I looked at the computer, but whatever he was working on might as well have been written in Sanskrit.

"Uh, what the hell is all that?" I asked with a nod towards the monitor.

"Oh, nothing my dear. Just a bit of research I've been working on." He took a few more notes then shut the computer down. "I suppose I don't have to ask how you're doing."

I shook my head. "Probably not. I'm terrible. I feel like I'm missing an arm or something."

"I wish I could say I understand, but we both know that wouldn't be true. But I have every confidence that you will succeed in bringing him back."

"Thank you." I whispered. "Can we just get this over with? I have a lot to do."

"Oh, of course! Of course. Right this way." He stood and we went back out to the infirmary.

I hopped up on a table and for the next hour he poked, prodded and otherwise made a nuisance of himself on my person. He checked my vision, hearing, reflexes and anything else he could think of. He ended the exam by taking about a quart of blood out of me. "I just have a few things to check here and then you can go." He said and went back to the lab portion of the infirmary. I took the opportunity to visit Rogue.

"Hey Marie." I said, pulling up a chair to sit next to her. "I'm going out to find Logan tomorrow, bring him back to us. I don't know how long I'll be gone or what kind of shape he'll be in, but I'll bring him back if it kills me. Sam, Chasca and Kyrohyou are coming with me. They volunteered and I know they'd just follow me if I tried to leave them behind. I just wish you were here so you could come too. I wouldn't leave you behind for anything in the world if I had it my way. I know you're still in there and I hope you can hear me, so I just wanted you to know that. And if you wake up while we're gone, make Storm bring you out to us, ok? I'll tell Hank and the Professor too, so they don't try to stop you." I heard Hank clear his throat behind me. "Look honey, I have to go. Hank's got something to tell me. You just get better, you hear me? I love you, Rogue. I'll be back soon and I'll bring him with me."

I walked over to Hank and he gestured for me to sit back on the table. He didn't say anything for a long time, just made a great show of rechecking some of my vitals. After a few minutes I got fed up. "Hank, we already did this. What's up?"

"What? Oh, just wanted to recheck a few things." He pulled a chair over and sat down. "Angela, what are my chances of getting you to delay going after Logan for a little while?"

"How about 'nonexistent'? Or does 'no fucking way' make the point better?" I glared at him. "I'm perfectly fine, Hank. I'm going."

"Well then how about sending someone else in your place? Scott perhaps, or someone from Beta team?"

"Again with no fucking way!" I hopped off the table and started out of the infirmary. "Thanks for the checkup, I have shit to do."

"Wait!" He cried and I felt his hand clasp around my bicep. "Please, come back here and sit down." I rolled my eyes, but let him lead me back over to the table. I climbed back up and glared at him as he sat back in the chair. "As a doctor, it is my duty to make sure you are aware of the possible consequences of your actions."

"Hank, I'm fine! I'll heal from anything that isn't mortal and even then, I'll come back. What is there to be aware of?"

"Angela, you're pregnant."

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