A/N: start of my second X-men story! So far this one is kind of awkward only because I had to open it up somewhere, but right away I'm going to start having some action and whatnot. Maybe even a little bit of fluff
After savoring the last bite of the freshly killed deer meat in my mouth, I stood up from the grassy forest ground and stretched my arms up in the air. The forest was calm around me, nothing but the fire making any kind of noise.
I let my belly button length dirty blonde wavy hair out of its ponytail and fall around my bare shoulders, being that all I had on was a black cami top and a pair of jean shorts. It was cold as usual at night here in east wherever the fuck I was. The days normally grew hot, to the point where I spent most of it in the nearby lake. Although I spent all of my hours outside, my skin was still pale, dotted with some freckles across my arms and nose.
My tongue clicked three times and a small cat rushed out from behind a bush, I could sense it sitting back there for a while now, waiting and wondering.
"Hi kitty," I purred, speaking in a language only he could understand.
"What are you doing out here?" he answered, happily accepting my fingers scratching behind his ear.
"I have nowhere else to go." I explained, "I've been out here for a few weeks now."
"Don't you have a home?"
"I got kicked out," I mumbled.
He rubbed his head against my hand when I stopped petting him, "Why?"
"Are you hungry?" I asked, looking at how his ribs were visible from under his gray and white fur.
"Yes."
I scavenged some remains of the deer which were on the ground and put it in a pile for him which he happily gobbled up within a second.
"I know what you are." He said suddenly.
"You do?" I glanced down at him, sounding doubtful.
"A mutant," the cat climbed onto my lap and curled into a ball. "That's why you can talk to me. What else can you do?"
"I can change into feline animals too," I laid back in the grass, staring up at the orange sky which the rising sun tinged with yellow.
"My name is Boomer," he said. "And what's yours sunshine?"
"I'm Emily."
"Well Emily," he hummed. "I think we should be friends."
I laughed a little, "It would be nice to not be alone."
His ears perked up a little, "Do you know the lion man who lives a few miles from here?"
"Lion man?"
"Yes!" he hopped around and began talking a million miles an hour. "I've never seen someone around here that reminds me of him like you do. You're a lot nicer though. And he looks like a lion! A man lion! Or uh…lion man. And he-
"Wait," I cut him off. "What?"
"A mutant man who lives a few miles," he turned around to face the opposite way. "That way. I'm surprised he hasn't smelt you yet if you've been out here."
"I change my location every night. I'm probably closer now than I was before." I thought for a moment before standing up. "Show me where he is."
"No!" he exclaimed. "He's vicious."
"I'm strong enough, I'm fast enough, and I'm smart enough to get away if I need to." I informed.
"But," he protested.
"Show me."
He let out a dramatic sigh, "Fine but don't say I didn't warn you."
We had been walking for about a little less than three minutes before he asked me to carry him. Instead, I lunged into the air, transforming into a cheetah, and then told him to hang onto my back.
"You won't hurt me," I told him, sensing him hesitate to dig his claws into my back.
As soon as I jumped off running, the hesitation was gone and his thick cat claws were sticking into my spine, but it didn't hurt enough to slow me down.
Suddenly I smelt it, and I wasn't sure why I hadn't smelt it before. It was defiantly a mutant, but it smelt kind of like a cat in a way.
Once we had reached the boundary line of what seemed like a yard, I changed back into my normal state, crouched behind a bush. Boomer stood closely beside me, shaking so horribly that I didn't even have to smell his fear to know he was mortified.
"He's going to kill us both," he shook.
"He's going to smell your fear," I growled, sensing something inside the log cabin which lay before us. "He knows we're here. I want you to stay here."
"Don't leave me!" he meowed as soon as I stood up and leapt over the bush in one easy stride.
The front door to the house immediately swung open and a man larger than I had ever seen before, about six foot five or taller, stood in the doorway. He had pork chop sideburns and a buzz cut of brown hair on top of his head. His eyes were a piercing yellow color and he was dressed in a long black jacket, and matching black pants.
He let out a growl and lunged at me. I hissed back and leapt out of the way, able to sense the move he was going to make before he did. We circled around each other for a while, growling and staring. I couldn't help but notice how his battle stance showed strength and great power.
"Why are you on my land?" he hissed, slowing down a little.
"I heard that there was another mutant living around here that was like me and I wanted to see who it was," my pace followed his.
"Who told you that?"
I felt my lip twitch, "A cat."
"Don't fuck with me kid. Who told you that I live here?" his voice hardened even more if it was possible.
I clicked my tongue three times and Boomer rushed from the bushes and hid behind my legs, "Can you talk to him Boomer?"
"He can't do that like you can." Boomer trembled behind me.
"What the hell are you saying?" the large man stopped pacing, and stared at me deadpan.
"I'm talking to him. I asked if he could talk to you and he said you can't do that like I can."
The man rubbed the top of his head, "What do you want anyway?"
I stared at the girl before me as she talked in some language I hadn't ever heard before to some cat who ran out from the bushes. What in the hell was going on? Either way I was just going to kill her, but of course I would have my way with her beforehand.
My eyes drifted over her body. She wasn't like the girls I normally killed. They were normally short, frail, skin and bones. But she was tall, looked about five foot ten and had a few curves which didn't fit her awkwardly at all. She had a cat like stance to her, almost ballerina like but still fierce. She had long wavy light brown hair which I couldn't wait to pull at. Her milky colored skin would have tons of scratches and bruises. Thos e deep blue eyes would be begging for life.
"What the hell are you saying?" I asked, noticing that I had stopped pacing around her.
"I'm talking to him. I asked if he could talk to you and he said you can't do that like I can," her big eyes stared up at me.
"What do you want anyway?" I asked, figuring out how I would come about to my plan.
"I told you already." She sassed, I tried holding back from ripping her tongue out. "He told me that someone like me lived over here. I'm surprised I didn't smell you though."
I thought for a moment, realizing that I hadn't smelt her either. Normally my supersensitive nose picks up the slightest threat, but I hadn't smelt anything until she was in my yard.
"You alone?" I asked, hoping ten other little mutant kids wouldn't come out of the forest undetected like she had.
She nodded, "It's just me and him."
"The cat?"
"Mmhm."
We stood in silence for a few moments, eyeing each other over with slight tension in the air.
"I'm Emily, by the way."
"Victor Creed."
"This is Boomer."
I sniffed the air and looked back down at the cowardly cat, "So you can talk to animals?"
"Only if they're feline. And I can change into different kinds too."
"And I saw you have the agilities of a cat," I took a step closer and to my surprise she stood her ground.
"Yes."
"How old are you anyway? I don't need some cops after me for some under aged runaway."
"I'm nineteen," she flipped her hair over her shoulder, and a sent like nothing I had ever smelt before filled the air. My tongue flickered across my lip, wanting to taste the sweetness that lingered around us.
"Do you…." She hesitated.
"What?"
"Do you mind if I…smell you?" she asked, looking at the ground.
I stared at her for a moment, "Why don't you come inside."
She nodded, "Sure."
He led me into his house and I followed cautiously. I didn't sense any danger in his voice or body language and I felt safe enough to agree to his offer to come inside of his house. Boomer stayed behind me, right at my heels.
Victor stopped when he reached the door, "I don't want shitting all over my house."
Boomer looked up, "What did he say?"
"He doesn't want you shitting all over his house," I choked back a laugh.
He scoffed, "I'm not some kind of slob."
"Speak in English," Victor snarled.
"Calm down," I snapped back. "He's trained."
"Fine," he glared back at me. "If the little animal does anything on my carpet I'll snap it's neck."
"He won't." I held back from throwing a few threats back at him.
Victor's icy yellow eyes stared back at me for a moment before he walked into the house, revealing a front room which held two beat up couches, a small kitchen area in the back, and a hallway to the right which probably led to a bedroom. There whole place was dark, but not pitch black. The sun was the only source of light in the whole place.
"So," he sat down on the couch and gave a hand motion which showed for me to sit next to him.
Slowly, I crept over to the couch and sat down. His eyes studied me for a while before I broke the silence.
"Are you alone here?"
"I prefer being alone."
"I know the feeling."
Silence.
"Where did you come from anyway?"
I looked back at him and tried not to hesitate before I answered, "I used to go to Professor Xavier's school but I left a few months ago."
"Why would you do that?"
"Couldn't stand it there. Like I said, I know the feeling of liking to be alone."
"I meant why would you go there to begin with?"
My lip twitched into a smile, "I legally had to until I turned eighteen. I stayed there for another year because I had…someone there who couldn't leave yet that I had to wait for."
"So you're not alone," he growled.
"I am. Shit happens. People change." I mumbled, petting Boomer in my lap and he purred loudly.
"So he dumped you?" he laughed.
I hissed and he stopped laughing, "I didn't even say it was a boyfriend."
"But you're getting mad so I have every right to believe it was."
"So what if it fucking was?"
"I don't like your tone with me," he leaned in more.
"What are you gonna do about it Frankenstein?" I closed the distance between us so now we were both barely a centimeter from each other. His sent filled my nose, making my mouth water, pure ecstasy filled my veins and I felt it harder to breathe. Intuition told me that he was going through the same thing. And I could hear his breath deepen, making the air thicker.
"Tear you to shreds, Dr. Doolittle."
I smirked and bared my fangs to him, he followed my lead.
"Come on Doolittle," he stood up, showing his tall, built frame. "I'm starving."
I picked up a sleeping Boomer off my lap and laid him onto the couch to rest. When I stood next to Victor he looked down at me, I craned my neck up to see him.
"Well Big Foot, where we gonna go?" I asked.
He smiled widely, "You're a regular comedian, aren't you kitty cat?"
"I try," I smiled back.
"Do you hunt?" he asked.
"Usually."
He grabbed my waist and flipped my body over his shoulder before going out the door.
"Sad how I easily overpower you, isn't it?"
In one swift movement I escaped his grasp by moving my body so I could wiggle out before he tightened his grip.
Not surprisingly, I landed on my feet and the side of his lip twitched into a small smirk.
"Sad how easily I outsmart you tough guy?"
He gave me a slight grimace, "You think you could beat me?"
I purred as I strode beside him, "I'm not saying I could beat you. I think we could be a fair fight, don't you?"
"Not at all," he shook his head, probably thinking about how his body seemed so much bigger than mine strength wise. I could tell that I was beginning to piss him off a little by my smugness but his tone didn't seem angry.
Almost invisibly fast, I appeared on the other side of him. "I'm like a ninja."
He smiled for real this time, "You're going to be a dead pile of cat remains in about two seconds if you keep being a wise ass."
Sighing, I looked him over again while he wasn't watching. His shoulders were so strong, in my mind I pictured his muscular arms wrapped around my waist, those clawed fingernails tracing down my spine, or the feel of my hand going down his stomach.
"What the fuck are you lookin at kitty cat?" I snapped out of my trance.
I shook my head and shrugged, "Nothin."
"Don't get yourself too excited now," he grinned arrogantly.
"Oh don't humor yourself Big Foot."
Somehow we had just met and I felt like we were already not friends, but allies in a way. I knew that back in the real world, not in this middle of nowhere world where I had been for the past month, the world where people were living around each other every day that he and I would have been friends. He seemed the type to get himself into trouble and not really care about the consequences. Just like me. The type to join the bad boys and not worry about getting hurt or taking a life risk.
Although I loved to fend for myself and not have to rely on anyone, I would love to have someone that looked and had his hardcore attitude to protect me and not let anyone say or do anything that would be considered hurtful. Don't get me wrong, I hate having people feel the need to protect me.
I watched him walk beside me as we strode through the forest, trying to sniff out some kind of animal. Man, I was getting in so over my head, I had just met him.
Who knows…maybe one day I'll really tell him why I ran away. And maybe one day I'll tell him where I really came from.
And maybe I'll even tell him who I really was before I escaped my past life.
That is, if I let him live long enough…