Chapter 2
She frantically ran through the forest.
She didn't need to look over her shoulder to know that he was still behind her. The angry noises of all the different animals of the forest as they tried to attack him to divert his attention from his prey, told her as much. Their attacks on this man had proven completely useless though, as he just casually threw them out of his way with a malicious grin on his face, not even slowing his pace.
Was this creature even a man? She wasn't sure. She had only fleetingly glanced at him, when he had broken through the bushes surrounding the lake she had been bathing in and then left barely enough time for her to grab her long shirt and throw it over her nude body before he had roared loudly and lunged at her. It had been pure luck that he had slipped on one of the loose stones around the lake, thus giving her enough time to scramble out of the water and flee. But he had been on her tail almost immediately and chasing her for what felt like hours.
And he was getting closer.
She thought about using her abilities once more to trip him with tree roots or hit him with branches, but then remembered how those tactics hadn't even fazed him before when she used them the first time and decided to rather concentrate on running.
She knew though that she wouldn't be able to do so for much longer.
She was exhausted.
She didn't know how long this chase was already going on, but it was definitely too long. The combination of the fruitless use of her abilities to manipulate and control plants earlier, plus the relentless running at top speed for a long period was taking its toll on her body. She couldn't seem to get enough air into her lungs, no matter how fast and desperate she sucked in her breath.
Her legs felt sluggish, rubbery, and not at all like they were moving as fast as they had in the beginning. A needling pain had also taken residence in her side, her fear no longer enough to ignore it in favour of running faster.
She needed more energy. She needed to stop.
He was closing in.
In a desperate last ditch effort, she focused on a large tree right in front of her, willed it to bend it's branches down, and quickly climbed up.
To the bystander it would look like the tree was accommodating her every move, boosting her up with its branches, leaning and bending in ways that shouldn't be possible for such a large tree, easing her way to higher ground and then straightening out to deny access to the one following.
Of course, that didn't seem to slow her pursuer down any, and she didn't even have time to catch her breath before he began to repeatedly and brutally slam into the trunk. The redhead clung to the upper branches as best as she could, but with each hit, the power that shook the tree seemed to increase and she knew that the tree wouldn't be able to withstand the slams of this vicious beast much longer. She was beginning to panic again. She couldn't climb down just to give herself up to whatever this manbeast wanted to do to her, but she also couldn't wait until he succeeded in uprooting the tree.
The decision was taken from her, when the next powerful slam made her loose her grip and with a shocked gasp, she fell.
Sabretooth was in the forest. Wolverine had been able to detect the smell of the thrice dammed mutant shortly after the group had set foot into the woods. It had taken him little time to determine in which direction their quarry was headed and the four had immediately started their pursuit. But after about five minutes, Storm, Cyclops and Jean found themselves hard pressed to keep up with their friend, as Logan all of a sudden started to run. As the three tried to catch up to Wolverine, the Canadian was pushing his body to go even faster.
When they had learned about the mutant woman that apparently lived in this forest since she was shunned by the people in the village, Logan had been irate enough to forget about the strange scent that had assaulted his nostrils ever since he got off the jet. But only minutes after locking onto Sabretooth's foul smell, he had also gotten a whiff of that alluringly intoxicating scent again.
But just as soon as he realized that, he also discovered something else, Something that propelled him to get to where the scent was as soon as possible. Sabretooth was close to the scent.
Too close.
And that just wouldn't do.
That scent, whatever it was, it was his and his alone. A fact he didn't question anymore. He wouldn't let anyone take it away, least of all fucking Sabretooth!
Finally he arrived in a small clearing just in time to see the ferocious mutant slam into a tree like a deranged animal, followed by a soft female gasp that only his enhanced hearing enabled him to pick up on, and then he witnessed a woman with long red hair, dressed only in what seemed to be nightgown, falling out of the tree, directly into Sabretooth's arms.
Logan didn't wait for another second. He shot across the remaining distance between him and his target and rammed into a very surprised Sabretooth, forcing the other man to drop the woman in his arms.
It was at that time the other three X-Men arrived on the scene. While Cyclops immediately went to try and help Wolverine against Sabretooth, Jean and Storm ran up to the woman sitting on the ground, that they had seen trying to escape from the beastly mutants' arms right before Logan had ploughed into him. She was most likely the same woman that little boy had spoken of and they really wanted to make sure she was ok.
She was scared and confused.
First she was running, then she was climbing up a tree, then she was falling, and then, while desperately struggling to get out of the manbeast's (as she had come to refer to him in her mind) grip, he let go and she fell once again, only a shorter distance. Of course she didn't have any time to try and get her bearings about her, as she saw two women, wherever those had come from, rapidly approaching her.
Fearful of the intentions of yet more strangers, the young red haired woman quickly scrambled backwards until her back hit the tree trunk behind her. Tapping into the large tree's energy restored her own enough to grow long, thick vines and roots and have them build a wall around her and the tree, hiding and protecting her from the strangers that probably wanted to harm her.
Jean and Storm stopped abruptly when they saw what must have been about a dozen vines shoot out of the ground and wrap themselves around the tree and the young woman in a wide circle. A little bewildered and worried, Jean turned to Ororo.
"So I guess we can assume that part of her mutation has something to do with the growth of greenery."
"Well, it's one possibility. She looked pretty scared right before she holed herself up with those vines."
Jean nodded as the two of them got closer to the large, green cocoon that hid the unknown mutant inside it.
"Well, I can't say I'm surprised. From what we know so far she probably hasn't had much contact with others and then she comes across Sabretooth of all people. She must be really afraid right now."
"Do you think she is the reason why he is here?"
Jean shrugged. "I don't know, but we will have to consider it. What could Magneto possibly want with a mutant who lives in a forest though?"
The two came to a stop right before the huge cocoon of vines and roots that wound around the large tree, denying them any kind of access to the young woman inside. Storm carefully approached the slightly intimidating construction. The cocoon came easily up to seven feet, if not more. The intricate vines were all very thick and sturdy looking.
Storm tried to find a hole somewhere between the vines, to possibly be able to take a closer look at the woman they wanted to help, but there was nothing. The whole thing just screamed impenetrable.
Reasonably sure the woman wouldn't try to attack her and Jean with the vines, Ororo leaned in close against the cocoon and spoke.
"Hello? Can you hear me? It's ok now. I'm Ororo, and this is my friend Jean. We won't hurt you I promise. I know you are probably scared right now, but it's ok to come out. Nothing will happen to you."
There was no response.
"Are you ok? Did he hurt you? If you need help, please let us in."
The white haired woman tried again to find a weak part in the structure, hoping to get inside or at least take a look to make sure the woman wasn't critically wounded. She was getting more worried by the second, not knowing if the woman was bleeding to death while they stood uselessly before a wall of green.
Her friend's hand on her shoulder pulled her back from her dark fears, as Jean then assured her.
"Don't worry, I can't feel anything relating to pain from her. She is alright. Just scared and confused. I'm sure she will come out if we give her a little time to calm down."
Sighing in relief, Ororo thanked her goddess that Jean had been able to get such a good grip on her empathic abilities over the last couple of weeks. It still took the redhead much concentration and she couldn't read the emotions of someone who was too far away or consciously didn't want her to, but in this case Jean apparently had been able to glimpse enough from the unknown mutant to know that she was at least physically healthy.
It was then that Scott and Logan came up to the two women, the latter cursing angrily under his breath.
Scott turned to them.
"Sabretooth took off. What about the girl?"
Jean and Ororo turned back to the cocoon of vines.
"She holed herself up in this. We think she is ok, but we will have to wait until she has calmed down a bit and realises we mean her no harm before we can get to her."
Wolverine didn't quite agree. While engaged in his fight with Sabretooth, he hadn't thought of much other than to beat that piece of shit into the ground.
Then when Cyclops made his presence known and Sabretooth realized he wouldn't stand much of a chance against the two of them, he had quickly got behind Wolverine and with a cheap shot threw him into the other X-Man.
As soon as he had untangled himself from his teammate, Logan had wanted to go after the fleeing Mutant, but Cyclops held him back, stating they needed to make sure that the victim of Sabretooths attack was alright.
So not only wasn't the Canadian able to go after his nemesis, he had also lost the scent again!
It had still been clear and close when he began his fight with Sabretooth, and then he had been concentrating on the fight, the scent no longer on the forefront of his mind. But as Scott and him made their way back to the girls, the sudden absence of the scent, that he had already declared his property, made itself glaringly obvious to him.
There wasn't even a lingering trace on the wind, or any faint sign that whatever the scent belonged to was distancing itself from the place.
It was just gone. Like suddenly cut off.
It was maddening.
He was starting to doubt not only his own sense of smell, but his sanity as well. How could he think that a scent he picked up in a forest belonged to him?
What was going on in his brain that instilled in him the unshakeable certainty that this scent was his?
He didn't even know what it was for god's sake! It could be a rotting corpse for all he knew! It was completely ridiculous!
And yet, even as he was having those thoughts, a voice inside him kept on insisting that the scent was his and his alone.
Considering all these things, it was quite understandable why he really didn't feel patient enough to stand around in a damn forest and wait for some female mutant to come out of her hiding place.
He let his claws out.
"Why don't I speed things up a little and just get her out of there?"
He was about to follow through with his plan, but Storm placed herself in his way.
"Don't. I really don't think it's wise to frighten her any more than she already is."
He didn't back down so quickly.
"So you suggest we just wait here until she deems it fit to grace us with her presence?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting. Sabretooth alone is probably enough to scare anyone into hiding, but on top of that she has been living alone and shrouded from any social contact for who knows how long. This must be very hard for her and if we want her to trust us then the least we can do is give her some time."
While the X-Men were discussing this, the mutant in question was slowly regaining her breath.
Thanks to the huge tree she had spun her protective barrier around, she had been able to replenish her energy by tapping into the tree's resources. Her legs still felt a little rubbery, but she was sure that she could make a run from the strangers is, if she found a way to distract them long enough to escape her current position.
At first she hadn't really listened to what the two women had said, much too concerned with getting her erratic breathing back under control, but hearing one of them trying to speak directly to her, telling her they weren't going to hurt her, made her weary.
If circumstances had been different, she would have jumped on the chance for company.
Loneliness was a feeling with which she was all too familiar and she had hated it ever since she was kicked out of her home by her parents and then right after chased away from her hometown by the other villagers.
Living in a forest wasn't easy and sharing said forest with the hundreds of animals it inhabited was even worse, so she should have been excited beyond believe over the prospect of finally speaking with other people again.
But after being chased halfway through the forest by the manbeast, she found herself rethinking her position on meeting new people.
The red haired young woman hadn't really listened to the words exchanged outside by the two women and, what were probably their two male companions that had arrived only moments ago, but she did catch the end of what sounded like a heated discussion.
"…trust us then the least we can do is give her some time."
~Yes, that's right.~ She thought gleefully. ~Just give me some more time to perfect my escape plan.~
She was about to put her hastily thought out 'distract-them-with-some-wild-roots-and-make-a-run-for-it' master plan, when a sound right beside her made the blood in her veins freeze.
*ribbit*
Logan was about to vocalize his displeasure about having to wait around once more, when a terrified scream came from behind the barrier of roots and vines. Before any of them could react, said plants seemingly exploded open and the young woman they had been waiting for ran out at top speed, barreling straight into Wolverine.
Logan was not at all the type of man that was comfortable with people invading his personal space. Especially not people he didn't even know. And under normal circumstances, he would have pushed the redhead that was clinging to him and mumbling incoherently into his chest, away as soon as she had made contact. But the second the petite body had hit him, something else had hit his nostrils as well.
The scent!
It was back in full force, far stronger than what he had been able to pick up before, and it came from her. It was her, the unknown female Mutant, who had been shunned by her hometown, lived in a forest for who knew how many years and had been hunted for whatever reason by Sabretooth.
He didn't consciously register when his arms came up, wrapping around the small waist of the redhead before him, his head leaning slightly forward and down to inhale deeply. Nor was he aware of his three companions, drawing closer to try to understand what had upset the woman so much. He didn't even know how much time passed while he stood there, bathing in this delightful, addicting scent, with only one thought running through his mind.
~Mine.~
-
She was vaguely aware that she was clinging to someone.
Someone she didn't know, surrounded by other strangers she had been afraid to meet only moments before. But at the moment, she really didn't care. She would cuddle up to anyone as long as that dreadful, creepy little frog didn't get anywhere near her.
She doubted that anyone could understand her chanting the words: "Get it away from me! Get it away from me! Get it away from me!", considering how desperately she was currently trying to bury herself into the body right before her. But she also wasn't willing to give up this momentary safety for the sake of communication.
So she just tightened her hold on the person she would most likely run away from as soon as the frog crisis was averted.
Jean wasn't used to being clueless.
Being an accomplished expert in many fields, as well as having the ability to pick up the emotions of others, generally gave her not only a very detailed insight to the situation, but also the knowledge of how to handle it. Right now though she found herself at a complete loss.
Aside from the obvious distress the other redhead - who for all intents and purposes was currently trying to crawl inside of Logan - was in, Jean could easily detect the fear radiating off the rather small woman.
Fear that she would have otherwise chalked up to being around strangers after having been chased by someone as terrifying as Sabretooth.
But the fact that the plant manipulating mutant was clinging to one of the aforementioned strangers, pretty much negated that hypotheses.
Had she not been so completely stumped with the young woman's behaviour, she might have found it strange that Logan wasn't doing anything to dislodge the redheads grip on him. As it was though, she had other concerns on her mind.
Ororo and Scott were equally confused over what was happening, but unlike her two friends, Ororo did notice Logan's more than willing reaction to the female mutants closeness.
She had seen the way his eyes had widened when the slight woman had propelled herself right into him and had then been stunned when, instead of pushing her away immediately, the Canadian had taken a deep breath, wrapped his arms around her and then all but buried his nose into her red hair.
At first Ororo had suspected that maybe it had been a reflex on his part. Maybe he had only wanted to steady the clearly scared girl in wrapping his arms around her, maybe calm her down a little by breathing softly into her hair. In the next second she had discarded that idea. Not only was it completely unlike the gruff loner to do something like that, it also didn't explain the way he tightened his arms around the redheads waist, pressing her impossibly closer.
She would have time to ponder over this later though, right now it was more important to find the source of the woman's sudden panic. Maybe then they could also find a way to calm her down.
Scott was the first to break out of his stupor.
"Does anyone understand what she is saying?"
Jean shook her head.
"To be honest, I don't understand anything right now."
Finally Ororo carefully approached the quivering Mutant.
"Hey, it's alright. Just tell us what's wrong and we will help you, ok?"
Of course, the redhead responded by clinging to Logan even more, though the white haired weather Mutant couldn't comprehend how that was physically possible.
The slightly hysteric mumblings also increased, but now they were even less decipherable, due to being spoken into the Canadians chest.
Ororo cast a look at Logan for help, but quickly decided that he wouldn't be able to provide any at this moment.
He wasn't occupied with breathing in the woman's scent anymore, but he clearly wasn't paying attention to the current situation either.
His eyes were firmly fixed on the red hair before him. What was most puzzling however, was the way he seemed to start loosening his arms, and then immediately tightened them around the small waist again.
-
Logan didn't know what to do.
He had already burned her wonderful scent into his brain, he knew the softness of her hair, even though some of it was slightly wet, as was the thin shirt she was wearing. Underneath which, as he could easily discern, she was completely naked. Which made it rather simple to get a feel of her alluring little body.
Her small frame, that made it possible for him to tuck her under his chin.
Her petite waist, so easily imprisoned by his arms.
The soft mounds that were her breasts, pressed tightly against him.
That gracious, pale neck that would peak out beneath the long tresses of fiery colored hair, whenever she moved her head.
He had been so very tempted to bring his mouth down on the tender looking flesh and mark her for all to see then and there.
And that is exactly where his problem began.
Here he was, ready to claim the woman whose scent was already declared as his, as well, and he didn't even know what she looked like.
When she had burst out of her little cocoon, he had been more than a little surprised and after what couldn't have been more than a glimpse of time, she had already buried herself into his form.
So he hadn't been able to get a look at her face at all.
Of course, he could do so now, but that would mean unwrapping his arms from her and distancing their bodies enough to actually give her the space required for a frontal view.
And he really didn't want to let go. She fit so perfectly against him, as if she had been molded for the sole purpose of him holding her.
Which he was all too happy to oblige to, but he also really wanted to see her face. Gaze into those eyes, hear this voice, kiss those lips...
Logan shook his head. He was getting majorly ahead of himself here.
What was he even thinking? This was ridiculous! How could he want this woman so much, based alone on her scent?
He admitted that sometimes, his heightened senses caused him to behave in a way often more associated with animals, and yes, he usually trusted and went with his instincts, but he considered himself far from being driven by them.
Usually.
The situation he was in at this moment though proved to be anything but usual, as well as his reaction to the woman still in his hold.
Yes, her scent was the closest thing to heaven he believed he would ever get, and if her face was even half as pretty as her body was lucious, then she was clearly a very attractive woman, but that was hardly a reason for him to lay claim to her the way his body and instincts were telling him to.
He needed to get a grip on himself.
-
Ororo tried once again to get through to the scared woman.
"Please, if you just tell us what's wrong, we can-", but she was interrupted when, from behind her, she heard a very distinctive *ribbit*
The woman before her stiffened immediately and let out a soft whimper. Curious Ororo turned around and saw a small, green frog hop out of what had moments before been an impenetrable barrier of roots and vines.
The answer to the new redheads sudden panic dawned on her and Jean at the same time.
"Scott, get rid of the frog."
The man turned questioning eyes to his fiancee.
"What?"
Jean wasn't all that fond of amphibians herself, so she took a step back as the little guy hopped ever nearer, as she repeated herself.
"She seems to be afraid of it, so make sure you take it far enough away so that she doesn't see it."
The sunglasses wearing man still found this situation a little odd, but complied non the less with the request. Carefully scooping the little frog up into his hands, he swiftly headed in a direction away from the group.
As soon as her team leader - and the frog - were out of sight, Ororo got close to the female mutant once more, this time softly laying her hand on the smaller woman's shoulder, hoping to reassure her.
"The frog is gone now, my friend took it away. It's okay, you can look now."
She was very surprised when, this time, she got an instant reaction. The redhead spun her head around, away from its position against Logan's firm chest, and fixed her gaze squarely on Ororo.
"It's really gone? Are you sure? Those creepy things are tricky, you know?"
Ororo and Jean were a little amused by the way the other redhead swiftly began to scan the perimeter, her green eyes swiping from right to left and back again.
Jean smiled. "It's gone, we promise. But are you ok? Did Sabretooth do anything to you?"
It was then the woman finally remembered that she was supposed to run away from these strangers. She cursed inwardly.
The stupid, creepy, little frog had distracted her from the danger she was in.
That probably had been its evil plan from the start. She had always known those things couldn't be trusted!
She quickly retracted her arms from the body they had been wound around and tried to make a run for it, but found herself halted by a pair of steel bar like arms around her waist.
That couldn't be good. Turning back around, she locked eyes with the man she had used as a clingingpole for the very first time.
Oh, this really wasn't good.
-
Screw his earlier thoughts about her being attractive. She was fucking gorgeous!
Her eyes were a color of green that could outshine the most precious emeralds, framed by long eyelashes.
Her flawless pale skin looked softer than even the white clouds in the sky.
Her full, rosy lips, that he just knew were made to be kissed, seemed to be glimmering without the aid of that funny tasting lip-gloss stuff women everywhere were so fond of.
Her voice had been just perfect.
Having a heightened sense of hearing, Logan was aware how truly rare it was to happen across someone whose voice was neither too high, nor too low. And he definitely appreciated the way her particular tone of voice kind of smoothed it's way through his ears.
Logan, of course, saw the fear that was growing on the lovely face, when she realized that he still kept his arms around her. But he was also quite certain that she would bolt as soon as he surrendered his hold.
And he was not going to let her escape from him.
Thankfully though, the empath of the group was very aware of her fellow redhead's mounting panic and quickly intervened.
"Nobody is going to hurt you. Quite the opposite in fact, we would very much like to help you. Now, if my friend lets go of you, do you promise not to run away from us?"
The young woman looked her straight into the eyes and upon seeing the youthful face so closely, Jean wasn't sure anymore if the term 'woman' could even be applied to her. She looked so very young.
Of course, they had had no reason to believe that the mutant they had heard about from the little boy was even over the age of 18, but by the way young Toby had said that the forest nymph' had been living in this forest "forever and ever", she had assumed they would be dealing with an adult here.
Now she wasn't so sure anymore.
So engrossed with the problem of whether the female mutant was to be referred to as a girl or woman, Jean nearly missed the very tentative, very quietly spoken "Okay."
Logan had been quite comfortable having the beautiful little Nymph in his arms, but he could smell the fear rolling off of her clearly and although it did nothing to sour her delightful scent, it was not the kind of feeling he relished in evoking.
Not in her, at least.
So, reluctantly, he slowly unwound his arms form around her waist, after she had given Jean the promise not to run away from them. He only allowed her to take one step away from him, however, before he growled quietly, which immediately stopped her in her tracks. No sense in letting her out of arms reach, right?
Though very surprised by Logan's reactions and actions to the new mutant so far, Ororo decided that questioning him about it could wait, and concentrated on the very nervous redhead before her, who had crossed her arms tightly over her middle and was fidgeting from foot to foot, while trying to keep all three of them in her sights at all times. She decided introductions were in order.
"Hi. I'm Ororo, but most often people just call me Storm. These here are my friends, Jean and Logan, who is also known as Wolverine. Our other friend, the one who took the frog away," - an involuntary and very noticeable shudder went through the younger redhead's body at the mention of the frog, and Storm wondered just how terrified the poor thing really was of the little creatures, before she went on - "is Scott, but if you like, you can also call him Cyclops. What's your name?"
It took a little while for her to gather enough courage to answer, but she finally decided that telling these strangers her name probably wouldn't worsen her current situation.
"I-I'm Willow... you can call me Willow, I don't have any other name."
She was nervously shifting her eyes back and forth and began twiddling her fingers.
"Well, except for my last name, which is Rosenberg, but I'm not allowed to use it anymore, my parents would get mad-"
Suddenly her eyes widened in shock.
"Oh no, I'm not supposed to call them my parents anymore! Please don't tell them I did! I-It just slipped out, I didn't mean to..."
Jean's heart went out to the scared girl. What must her parents have done to her to cause this kind of reaction?
She could feel the waves of deep sympathy coming from Ororo, who stood next to her and knew that her friend probably wanted to just hug Willow and comfort her as much as she herself wanted to.
But Jean also knew that the younger redhead was still wary of them and physical contact was probably not the way to go just yet. So she decided to try and steer the conversation into safer territory.
Especially considering that Willow's fear of her own parents had Logan clench and unclench his fists in fast increasing anger and she didn't think that him snapping and tracking down her parents to pound them into the ground right now would help their situation any.
"It's okay, we won't tell them anything. How about you tell us a little about yourself? How old are you?"
It seemed to do the trick as Willow stopped her nervous rambling and got a thoughtful look on her face.
"Ehm, I'm not sure... What year is it?"
It made sense that someone who had been living in a forest would lose some feeling of time passing by, and she had kind of expected such an answer, but it still somehow shocked Jean to have Willow say the words. She didn't even listen when Ororo answered the redhead, but she did hear Willow's astonished reaction.
"Only sixteen years? It seemed to be so much longer... But to answer your question, I'm 26... Oh, unless it hasn't been the 21st of March yet, then I would only be 25."
Ororo gasped queitly. 26? She hardly looked 18! And it had been 16 years? But that would mean-
Logan's enraged voice cut through her train of thought.
"Your parent's kicked you out when you were only ten?"
Willow visibly shrank into herself, her hands twisting the material of the long shirt she wore.
"W-w-well, y-yes. I r-remember very w-well, cause... it was my b-birthday... B-but they had to! Because that was the day I... I..." ~became a freak.~But she couldn't tell them that!If these people knew what she was, who knew what they would do to her? Best case scenario, they would leave, worst case scenario... Willow didn't even want to think about it.
Sure, she still didn't trust them, and the man, Logan, she remembered, was a little scary what with the growling and all, but so far they had been really nice to her and even though she was still wary of them, it was just so nice to be able to talk to someone again. Scary as hell, but she didn't want it to end this soon.
Willow never even considered the possibility that these people already knew of her mutant status. Because if they knew, they would not stand there, talking to her. Normal people, 'real' people, did not socialize with Mutants.
Abominations of nature.
Freaks.
Like her.
So they couldn't know what she was, it was that simple.
The reason for their presence in a thick, deep forest, their apparent knowledge of the manbeast that had been chasing her, the fact they knew that her former parents had thrown her out, all this just didn't connect at this moment in time for the normally bright and perceptive 26 year old to come to the right conclusions.
Her thoughts only concentrated on the task of what she could tell them that wouldn't send them running away from her as fast as they could, or force her to run away form them.
Preferably without having to lie to them. She wasn't good with lying. Well, at least she hadn't been good with lying when she was a kid and she doubted the years of isolation had changed that.
She was about to say something that would hopefully steer the conversation in a different direction, when Logan finally lost his, so far better than normal, control over his temper.
"That's it! I'm going back there right now and have myself a nice little talk with Mr and Mrs Rosenberg!"
The metallic 'zing' of his adamantium claws coming out was heard clearly by the three women around him. But he only heard Willow's shocked gasp and turned his gaze back to her. Finding and 'talking' to her bastard parents was temporarily forgotten as he saw her widened eyes and even paler than before looking skin.
"Y-you.. you are..."
Fortunately, this time Jean understood the situation immediately and knew what to do. She raised her right arm and with it, the fist sized stone that laid right before Willows feet rose slowly into the air.
Willow watched the suspended stone rotating in front of her, her expression a mixture of awe and 'scared to death'. Then Jean brought her arm back down, letting the stone lay back in its previous position. She looked at Willow with a calm, reassuring smile.
"We are Mutants, Willow. Just like you. I can only imagine what your parents and the other people in your hometown have told you about that subject, but you have to believe me when I tell you that most, probably all of it, have been lies. And that we are not going to hurt you."
Willow was shocked beyond measure. She didn't know what to do, what to think! These people were Mutants. Freaks like her. But they had been nice to her, and this Jean person had even said that they weren't going to hurt her. And strangely enough, she believed that. But Mutants were supposed to be monsters and evil.
Then again, she was a mutant herself and she honestly didn't consider herself to be evil. Probably a monster, but not particularly evil.
Maybe Mutants were only nice to each other? But then why had the other one, the manbeast, been chasing her?
This was all too confusing and Willow felt a small measure of relief when, what happened next, freed her of having to think about this any longer.
Blackness consumed her vision as, for the first time in her life, she fainted.
It was very fortunate that he hadn't allowed her to step out of his reach earlier, as Logan just managed to catch the redhead, before she could hit the ground.
"Hey!"
Ororo and Jean hurriedly stepped towards him to take a look at Willow.
After checking her pulse and breathing, Jean sighed relieved.
"She is alright. The shock of the situation must have been too much for her and her system just shut down."
Ororo nodded, standing up from her kneeling position next to Logan, who had Willow securely in his arms.
"I guess it would be much to take in all of a sudden. Especially considering the kind of mind frame she must have grown up with in that village."
Right after she said that, the white haired woman slowly shook her head.
~No. You can hardly call a period of only ten years 'growing up'. How can anyone do that to their own child? Sixteen years... what must it have been like for her? Maybe I should accompany Logan and go 'talk' to her parents a little.~
Her dark and angry thoughts were interrupted when Scott stepped out of the tree's behind them and hurried over, his face worried as he looked at the unconcious redhead.
"What happened? Is she alright?"
Jean turned to him. "Yes, she is okay. Things just were too much for her. I'll explain later. What took you so long anyway? I said to take the frog out of her sight, not out of the forest."
Scott shrugged, a confused look on his face.
"It was the weirdest thing. Every time I sat the little guy down, he hopped right back in the direction we came from. It was only when I got to a little pond about 500 meters from here when he finally stayed put."
He looked once again to the pale woman cradled in Logan's arms on the ground.
"Are you sure she is okay?"
Jean nodded. "Don't worry. But I don't think we should just take her with us to the jet like that."
Ororo agreed. "She would probably get really scared if she woke up during the flight, or later in the mansion. And I would like to see where and how she has been living all these years."
Although Scott wasn't sure about the details yet, he knew they needed to decide on a plan of action.
"So, what now? Just wait here for her to wake up?"
Logan had used the time his teammates were talking to adjust his grip on the beautiful woman in his arms, sliding one arm underneath her knees and the other under her shoulders. With her securely held against his chest, he stood up, at once thinking that she was far too light for a healthy 26 year old. He smirked slightly when he thought about all the dinner dates he could take her out to, to change that.
First things first though.
He turned to the others. "I can smell her strongly in that direction," he jerked his head to a path behind him. "so that's probably where she stays and keeps whatever stuff she has."
Then, without another word, he turned in that direction and began walking.
The others, already used to Logan's way of saying "How about I lead the way?" just followed their friend, using the walk to catch Scott up on what had happened while he was gone.
Meanwhile Logan could once again only concentrate on her scent.
Even though he held the source of the heavenly smell right there in his arms, it was surprisingly easy to sniff out the route to her 'home'. And every time he looked down into the pretty face, that little voice in the back of his mind became just a little louder.
~Mine.~