Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.
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She didn't know where she was and the thought thrilled her, every breath taken bringing with it new scents and the knowledge that no man had yet set foot this far before. No, that was wrong, this land had a people who had lived as a part of it and not apart from it for so very long. The settlements were forgotten behind her, neither her nor her friend and Familiar had need for the lodgings the Frenchmen built. Creeping through the ancient forests, the very wind welcomed them after their trying journey, the wolves within them let free to run wild after being caged as they crossed the sea.
"I give the greetings of the Fox Spirit."
This welcome wasn't a whisper on the wind, nor was it spoken by the Spirits who inhabited this land but instead came from one of the People of the Land. A village like she had only dreamt of stretched before her, her imagination fuelled by the stories she'd heard from those who had been there and back from this land as she made her own voyage at last.
From that village a girl walked in the company of men, and with her smile and a few words in their tongue they laid down their arms. Staring into the eyes of this child who looked not to have seen any more than seven winters, there was a wisdom beyond her years in them.
"I give the greetings of the Wolf Spirit." She answered with a voice not her own.
"Will you eat with us?" The child asked.
And though they revered this child she felt their unease. Warriors of their tribe, their eyes were watchful and their muscles tense because there were wolves in their midst. But this child approached knowing the truth, running a hand down her mane and muzzle in affectionate greeting.
"We would gladly eat with you."
And now she and her friend and Familiar were dressed as the people of this land listening to their stories. And now she was watching the sun rise from the East to begin it's journey to the West.
"Where will you go now, Lady of the Wolf Spirit?" The child asked from the village behind them.
But she was no child now, no, looking back a Fox kit sat with a coat so white it sparkled silver in the morning rays. Loping back and rubbing her muzzle to the mane of this young one, she sat with her a bit longer and watched the sky brighten.
"I go to see where the sun sets Silverfox."
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"Rise and shine Darlin', plane's about to touch down and ya gotta get buckled up." Logan called to her from the edges of her dream.
"Pourquoi?" Rogue asked amidst her yawning.
"Don't you go startin' that, bad enough we got that Cajun kid tryin' to get into all the girls pants talkin' French to them." Logan said.
"Qui parle français?" Rogue asked now.
Seeing his eyes turn worried, she toyed with her question again and with a start realized her mistake. The dream was little more than figments now, a struggle to remember them on waking, but out of the haze came a name.
"Silverfox..." Rogue whispered.
"Another nightmare?" Logan asked, gently rubbing her shoulder.
"No, it was...nice. Wish ya hadn't woken me up now..." Rogue replied, left to wonder just where the sun set.
"Sorry babe, but them's the rules. Ya can sleep in all ya want tomorrow. In yer own bed even." Logan chuckled.
And it was just those few words to realize she was home again. With just a buffet and a bump from a bit of turbulence the plane landed and taxied up to the gate. She barely remembered passing through customs and finding her luggage, it was only as she set foot past the doors and looked around she finally felt roused from her dream. The wind whispered nothing new and she felt sad for it. Feeling her hand taken to lend some comfort, it wasn't the callused one of Logan but that of her friend who had followed after her across Europe, her other pressed to her heart saying all that needed to be said between them, she feels it too.
"We're home." Rogue said.
"Feel's weird don't it?" Jubilee asked to get a nod in answer.
"Ain't that what we do?" Rogue asked, earning herself a laugh as they climbed into the waiting car.
Spending her time answer texts, emails and making promises once she really returned home, the city was left behind by the time she was all caught up. Moments spent staring out the window saw the leaves touched by the first colours of the coming season, cracking the window and breathing deep her first breath of the coming Fall with new admiration. And now there were the gates to the drive and as the car came to a stop the doors opened to reveal her friends that had become family greeting her.
"Welcome back." Ororo said with a hug to each and the scent of a welcome rain upon her scent as she lead them up the steps.
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"You're kidding right?" Jubilee asked.
After a full check up, battery of x-rays both dental and otherwise along with blood work, Doctor Henry McCoy stood before them with his hands held out. Behind them there were a few snickers and a couple of snorted laughs, but Hank offered them a placating smile.
"One of the more...humiliating tests, but I confess I simply cannot think of any other way to test your claims of heightened senses on par to Logan's." Hank said.
"...fine, it's that one." Jubilee said pointing to one of his closed hands, now opened to reveal a piece of jerky.
"Just four more times to go." Hank said as he placed his hands behind his back to switch which just had the jerky in it.
Again and again the trick was repeated until each had done so five times without missing a beat, finally rewarded with a bag of jerky each to munch on in lieu of the usual Twinkie he'd offer. Now bags of items were brought forth, each zip locked shut.
"Now then, you say you've had a moment to get to know the unique scents of your participants?" Hank asked with a nod to the gathered.
Sitting off on stools at the lab bench, John and Bobby broke from their argument to turn back to witness the results, Kitty looking up from her laptop and Pete his sketching each with a grin.
"If I see a sock I'm gonna bite someone." Jubilee threatened.
"I'll let you." Rogue added.
"I promise that no items from anyone's laundry shall be take part in this test." Hank swore, passing each a bag.
"John." Jubilee said opening hers.
"Correct." Hank said after taking a note of the number upon the bag and comparing it with his list.
"Kitty." Rogue announced, tossing the bag to the Doctor.
"Pete." Jubilee called after a couple of sniffs.
Again and again the names were called until every bag was opened, and once again Hank found the results to speak for themselves with a perfect score. Fixing himself a cup of coffee and adding the latest results to the rest, he had a word with the gathered audience come participants who quietly exited with a wave and a few words in goodbye.
"Last test and then you're free to go." Hank said, taking a seat at a nearby swivel stool and rolling over.
"Hide and seek?" Rogue asked.
"The results from your auditory tests have me wondering if Logan would agree to a similar test. But yes, and in light of that unfair advantage I've asked them to keep quiet." Hank agreed.
"What kinda head start they got?" Jubilee asked between the last few bites of her jerky.
"Five minutes." Hank said with a look to his watch.
"Cool, so...in five it's olly olly oxen free? Hey Blue, ya think ya could give me and my Mistress a minute. Got some girl talk, totally would bore ya." Jubilee asked, rambling a mile a minute in a bit of fast talking with the good Doctor.
"Of course, I'll just set an alarm on my laptop to remind you incase you forget." Hank said, heading to the lab bench for a moment before taking his leave.
Sitting together in companionable silence kicking their feet and fidgeting, only after they couldn't hear Hank and so could be utterly sure he wouldn't over hear them did they turn to another with complete shock and awe plastered across their faces.
"Okay, then I wasn't the only one, like did you smell that!?" Jubilee hissed, trying to keep quiet in a whisper despite her excitement.
"Just like...gawd, I mean they were just bicker, bicker, bicker but..." Rogue stammered.
"Underneath it all it was just shut up and kiss me!" Jubilee squealed.
"Is this what it's like for Logan? No wonder he's always goin' down havin' bar fights and takin' long rides 'n doin' solo Danger Room sessions." Rogue asked, letting go of a breath and hiding her flushed face with her hands.
"Oh my god, trapped in a school full of hormonal teenagers that just wanna...god, I need a cold shower now." Jubilee gasped.
"Do you think that's why he left?" Rogue asked now, looking back at the door and thinking of the one off playing a child's game.
"Shit..." Jubilee sputtered, her excited mood burst as she joined in looking at the door.
"But he's back now..." Rogue whispered.
"And you're not dating Bobby..." Jubilee added.
"They're both single..." Rogue agreed.
"I mean, we just got back. I don't think I can deal with this every fucking day." Jubilee muttered.
"Okay, so...how are we gonna hook Bobby and John up?" Rogue asked.
"Divide and conquer. Who do you want?" Jubilee asked.
"I'll take John...I, I know what he's goin' through. I mean, even if I did want it...it's still...a lot to get used ta." Rogue said, struggling for words still not believing the news told that day.
"K, Bobby's mine. Huh...so, that killed all of two minutes. So...you wanna talk about what I'm smellin' offa you and Logan?" Jubilee asked with a sideways glance.
"No!" Rogue snapped, feeling a whole new blush wash over her face.
"Okay Mistress! Shutting up Mistress! Damitt! Stupid rassum frassum..." Jubilee agreed heartily, only after catching herself for a bit of grumbling.
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"Where you off to in a hurry?" Rogue asked.
Out the door and down the steps, John turned back with keys in hand to see her sitting on one of the brick and concrete capped banisters of the front porch. Dressed in jeans that while weren't designer were still meant to impress along with a shirt that had a tantalizing few buttons left undone and it's sleeves rolled up, gone was the slender kid she remembered to be replaced with the man that had walked up the long drive one day with just a duffle thrown over his shoulder.
"Just to get some air." John said, shaking his head and starting back to a car sitting among a few others of the school fleet.
"Room for one more?" Rogue asked, slipping from her perch and starting after him.
"Don't know when I'll be back, still want to go?" John asked, twirling the key ring around his finger.
"Shut up and drive, and we're taking the convertible." Rogue said, dangling a key herself now to toss it to him.
Catching the key and looking to the other, he took a moment to go hide it under the visor of a sedan and climbed into the waiting BMW. Bringing the engine to life with a rev and dropping the top, with a squawk of tires and burnt rubber he was off.
"What's it like?" John asked after some miles had been put behind him, sparing a glance to his passenger who had her seat reclined.
"Now I know why Logan doesn't wear a helmet." Rogue called, enjoying the road in it's full glory seeing what eyes alone could not.
"I thought that was because his head would break the road." John laughed, taking a corner fast and hard.
"I get the feelin' he'd take his chances even if he wasn't who he was." Rogue replied, trailing her fingers through the wind that snatched her hair to whip behind her.
"What do you smell?" John asked now, letting the engine loose on a straight stretch.
Closing her eyes and breathing in the breeze, she smiled as it was like painting a picture, every scent something to choose from her pallette.
"There's a stream ahead, and...deer, might be thirsty. There's raspberries behind us now, and something just got turned into lunch for a hawk. Maybe a mouse." Letting her imagination run, it wasn't the scents alone but everything she heard over the roar of the engine.
Turning into a game, she pointed out all the things in time for him to see as they barrelled down the black top, the life that was usually passed by with only lucky moments coming time to time. Pulling past the sign that read Salem Center, she could see men on ladders decorating the Victorian street lamps for a coming festival.
"How about a drink, first round's on me." Rogue said, pointing off to a pub.
Parked, seated and waiting for their beers, he'd gone for a Bud while she had chosen something from the craft beers offered. And now she saw him playing the candle courting the flame, pulling his finger back with a hiss of pain as he pushed his luck.
"I'm sorry..." Rogue whispered, reaching now to play his dangerous game herself.
"I'm not. I think I got just what I deserved, whole lot of comeuppance in a little glass needle." John said, shaking his head and throwing his arms across the back of the bench of their booth.
Got nowhere else to go. Those had been the words he'd said that day knocking at the door of the school he'd once called home. Thinking again of the courage it must have taken him to come back. He'd returned a changed man in more ways than one, one among the many who fleeing the hell of Alcatraz Island had been Cured by an errant needle.
"Did you at least find what you were looking for?" John asked, slumping his shoulders and throwing hands to the table to roll his knuckles over the wood.
Reaching across the table to take his hand in her own, he didn't flinch or fight against the touch and instead just ran a thumb across her knuckles both gentle and soft. He'd only been back a couple of months before her trip to Europe and in that time they hadn't said much, he'd mostly kept to himself and hid in his room.
"This is all I ever wanted, ya don't know just how much it means until ya can't do it. Till ya can't feel someone's warmth, feel every callus and scar and just how rough their hand is...feel their lips and breathe their breath." Rogue said, exploring every inch of his hand by touch alone.
"Guess you and Bobby musta done a lot of that?" John asked with a harsh breath, pulling free of her touch.
"I won't lie and say he wasn't a good kisser soon as he got some practice in, but...well, we never got too far cause we both kept chickening out. Hell, I'd have to ask Lee just which bases we actually fielded." Rogue laughed, looking now to the waitress that brought their beers and waiting until they were alone again.
"You never...?" John asked, his eyes saying everything else he couldn't.
"The one time we actually went on and rented a room at some shitty motel, all we ended up doin' was watching the payperview." Rogue admitted.
And there it was, a shift in his scent that while different from what she'd smelt back in the lab still hinted and an unrequited lust. With an arm thrown over the back of the booth and a beer in hand he was lost to the view out the window, yet she knew just where this thoughts must be. Sitting in silence until their beers were finished and a new round on the way, she had waited just that long to ask the question both her and her friend and Familiar wanted an answer to.
"So just how long have you liked Bobby?" Rogue asked giving voice to that question.
A blush and a smile and the way he calmly looked to her said this wasn't the John she knew from years before, gone was the anger that was now just part of the act even as he fought with the object of his affection. A laugh now as he ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head at himself as if he shouldn't have seen it before.
"You know what they say, you don't know what you have until it's gone. I didn't know why I got on that helicopter that day, I just knew I had to go. It was, it was at the clinic when I saw him again. He was chasing after you and it all made sense and...seeing how far he'd go for you hurt." John started, his voice quiet and pausing only to search his feelings for the right words to express them.
With clasped hands pressed to her lips she listened to it all, sparing a moment to look to her cell and see a text coming in. The glasses were piling up yet they waved off the waitress who tried to take them away, using them to keep score of who owed who which round. Finally with the first stars peeking out of the azure sky they left, and feeling not a bit tipsy or drunk she took the keys.
"Where we going?" John asked, the road to the school behind them.
"Won't know till we get there, but hey...you said you didn't know when you'd be back anyways so..." Rogue said, turning up the radio and peeling out.
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"I can't believe I let you trick me into taking you shopping." Bobby groaned.
"Hey, not my fault I was wrong and it didn't fit. But hey, I know you totally had eyes on my awesome Jayne hat that looks styling on you." Jubilee teased, dressed in a skirt and a hoodie for the sake of her ears.
"You asked me if I wanted it and I said yes, I didn't expect that to mean I'd have to take you shopping to find a replacement for it." Bobby shot back, enjoying a sip of his iced coffee that never warmed.
"Yeah well...my license lapsed while I was abroad so I needed a lift, hey, you got that hat outta the deal." Jubilee said a bit haughtily.
"How was it anyway?" Bobby asked.
Pausing to look at a shirt that had nothing to do with hat shopping, she smiled at the memories she had made. With a start and a squawk and scream though she just remembered who she was shopping with and spun to slap him and then fish the ice cube steadily melting down her back. Glaring at him, he was laughing without a care but there was something in his eyes, a watchfulness she wasn't used to.
"Asshole." Jubilee growled, squirming until the cube fell free.
"Just gives you a reason for some payback." Bobby laughed, throwing an arm around her for a hug.
"Well, as I was gonna say before you started throwing ice cubes down my hoodie...it was fun. Just me and Roguey and every god damned accent I've ever lusted over twenty four seven." Jubilee laughed, giving a playful shove to drive off the boy manhandling her.
"Oh, did you meet some cute boys over there?" Bobby asked.
Strolling down the street and swaying to and fro, now there was a scent she remembered from the lab. The question was innocent enough but she caught the undercurrent of curiosity wafting off him just then.
"Here I'd thought ya'd be more interested in all the cute girls over there." Jubilee asked back, snagging his arm to lead him into a store.
"Well, we weren't talking about me." Bobby argued, trying to distract himself with the wares of the shop.
"How's this one?" Jubilee asked, trying on something like what she found in Munich.
"Taxi!" Bobby cried, laughing as he earned himself a pout.
Looking at the selection after pulling her hoodie back up, arms took her into another hug and she felt his chin on her shoulder. Swaying her to and fro in time to the music playing throughout the store, from the corner of her eye she saw him looking at the hats.
"Thanks for being there for Rogue..." Bobby whispered in her ear.
"Hey, we buds. I got her back." Jubilee said, closing her eyes thinking back to that first morning.
"I know we're not dating anymore, but...I still care for her. It takes more than a bud to go through that and keep her cool, and I'm the Iceman so I know about staying frosty. I..." Bobby whispered a new with his scent awash with a twist of fear, dread and something that had her chest ache.
"Keep my cool? I thought we got raped Bobby...waking up butt naked like we just got dumped out in the woods. I thought I was going fucking crazy, and then Rogue woke up and told me the ears, the raven...the wolf...it was all real. Scarey as it was, it was...it was better than thinking that..." Jubilee whispered, her voice breaking and being so glad for his arms around her.
"You tell Rogue?" Bobby asked quietly, hugging her with all his strength as he felt her shake her head in an unspoken answer, No.
"Logan? Kurt?" Bobby asked, unable to hide the pain in his voice feeling her give the same answer.
"You've been keeping that secret this whole time? Why!? Even if, even if it didn't happen you must have been so scared, scared and hurt and terrified." Bobby asked, hardly believing it.
"It was just a bad dream, it wasn't real. I mean...when we met up with Logan and Kurt, I just felt safe again. Like I didn't have to try and keep it all together for Roguey. I mean shit..she just normal back in her life after a hell of a bad trip worrying about killing anyone she touched, and now the weird comes outta the woods and makes her some Witch?" Jubilee asked, twisting in his embrace to bury her face against his chest.
"This didn't just happen to Rogue..." Bobby whispered, resting his chin now atop her head.
"...I'm not the one that's gonna be waking up from nightmares like that. I felt how fucking scared she was Bobby, she was fucking terrified. I'm supposed to pile my own bad dream on her like that?" Jubilee asked, hiding her tears between them.
"...I don't know, but like I said...she means a lot to me, to us. So any bad dreams you don't wanna share with her, you come to me. Don't do that to yourself." Bobby ground out, blinking away tears of his own.
"Okay...thanks. Thank you Bobby. Shit, great job Lee. Here I'm supposed to be finding out if you got the hots for John so we can play matchmaker and I'm just having a sobfest." Jubilee laughed off with a few shaky breaths, wiping at her tears now as she looked up to the man who had lent her the comfort she needed.
"What!?" Bobby gasped.
"Oh come on, it's all over you like that cheap cologne you're wearing." Jubilee growled, poking a finger to his chest.
"...you can smell that?" Bobby asked in a harsh whisper.
"The horny coming off ya? Yeah, both me and Roguey can." Jubilee chirped with a bit of a good mood finding her.
"What about John?" Bobby asked even quieter, his heart practically stopping as he waited out the agonizing seconds that ticked away.
"Just read between the lines and ask him yourself, I'm gonna text Roguey about hooking up for some grub. The four of us. And!" Jubilee muttered, snatching the hat she liked, "I don't care what you think, Roguey liked the other one I had like this."
Left in stunned silence before the selection of hats and amid racks and racks of the latest trends in fashion, he looked down to his T-shirt and Jeans in horror. Rushing up and grabbing his friend by the arm, she was in the middle of texting and looked up to him biting her lip in annoyance and putting a fang on display. It took just three little words to get him back in her good graces, Help me shop!
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"Here they come." Rogue pointed out, sitting with John at a table for four.
"Quick, one to ten...how good a kisser would you say he is?" John asked in a whisper.
"I don't kiss and tell Sugah, find out fer yourself." Rogue replied, trying to quiet her laughter as Bobby and Jubilee joined them.
"Starving...please tell me you ordered." Jubilee whimpered, looking hungrily at all the other patrons enjoying their meals.
"Hell, already polished off some appetizers waitin' fer ya. Got the main course comin' any minute now." Rogue promised, watching her friend and Familiar try a bread stick only to spit it into her napkin.
"Hey, uh, you look good." Bobby said in greeting to the man across from him.
"You too, new shirt?" John asked.
"Yeah, uh...had Jubilee help pick it out." Bobby replied, reaching for his glass of water to guzzle it down.
Seeing Jubilee sullenly toying with her phone, a few moments in Rogue felt her own dancing and looked to find a text waiting. Opening it, it didn't surprise her that it was from the lady across from her, but seeing the quickly made image she burst out with a laugh. There just as that one meme, a stick figure holding two ones in hand only for the heads to be replaced with photo's of John and Bobby alike. Beneath it two words were written, Now Kiss!
Kicking her from under the table, she ignored the looks the men threw them as they chatted awkward and shy. Making room as the waiter brought their meals, again the steaks found home before the wrong diners to be quickly fixed.
"It's bigger than your head." Bobby pointed out to Jubilee as she got down to business.
"Yeah, just don't get between her and it Bobby, ya might go missin' a finger or something." Rogue added, starting to enjoy her own.
"So." John said, taking time to cut his chicken up.
"Hey, trade ya a piece of my fish for your chicken?" Bobby offered.
"Grilled salmon? Sure..." John said, the two reaching across to pilfer a piece from the other's plate, their hands brushing in between them.
Nearly choking on a piece of her steak as the two flirted, Rogue started to wonder if this was how her dates with Bobby had looked to the ones dragged along. Glances were stolen and a whole lot of excuses made to get closer to another, chatting just like old times as they found their pace for some conversation as they ate, talking without a care or a worry and stealing food from each other's plates never needing to ask.
"Happy belly is happy." Jubilee said sighing, looking sleepy and sated.
"Better get you two home before you fall into a food coma and curl up for a nap somewhere." Bobby mused, a look to Rogue all it took to see her in similar form.
"Alright Lee, how about we go to the ladies room first." Rogue agreed, helping her friend to her feet
"I'll get the check." Bobby called.
"I got it." John tried.
Listening to an argument break out over who was going to pay, with the shutting of the washroom door Rogue looked to her friend with the concern she had been hiding the entire meal. Scrolling through a few texts until she found the one she was looking for, with an arm across the stall she brought Jubilee short and revealed it. Hoping the entire time that Bobby had been mistaken or misheard, the downcast eyes was the only answer she needed.
"Were you going to tell me?" Rogue asked.
"...I don't know." Jubilee whispered.
"Dummy." Rogue croaked, pulling her into a hug and wrapping her head in her hands to hold her close.
Hearing the door to the washroom open, from the mirror she saw a woman look in start and then mouth a silent apology before retreating. Smiling at the simple act of kindness, she walked her friend off to a stall and took a seat to pull her onto her lap.
"Don't ever hide something like that from me again Lee, this isn't as your Mistress, this is as your friend. You think I'd let Kitty pull this shit?" Rogue asked, all the hurt in her voice raw and exposed.
"No, no Mist, Mistress...dammit..." Jubilee sputtered, struggling against the bond between them that had nothing to do with friendship.
"We're in this together, gotta be able to trust each other with anything. God, when I think how damn crazy I'd sound if it wasn't for you backing me up as I told Logan all this..." Rogue said, biting her lip as her heart ached.
"It's not all bad either, I ain't even had a chance to tell ya about that dream I had and I'm guessin' ya know it was no nightmare." Rogue carried on, feeling a nod now.
"I'll tell ya about it on the drive back, c'mon. Lets go wipe these tears and catch up ta the boys before they send a search party on in here." Rogue added now with a quiet laugh.
"K." Jubilee whispered, letting herself be helped to her feet.
Making herself presentable again and righting her friend's hat so her ears were hidden again, she left the retreat of the washroom ready to call it a night and maybe chase after a few of those dreams that made all this worthwhile.
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"Okay, I see the car so where are they?" Jubilee asked.
"Shh..." Rogue hushed.
With the piped music of the restaurant playing in the parking lot and the passing traffic it took a moment to hear, but knowing what she was listening for it was undeniable now as the sound of fist against flesh. A breath was all it took to fill her with rage at the blood in the air, Jubilee rushing along side her around to the very back of the restaurant.
"...a family restaurant! You think they wanna see that shit! You think they wanna come here and have to explain that to their kids!" A man dressed as kitchen help yelled.
Outnumbered five to two, Bobby and John stood with their backs to the wall, John bent over clutching his chest and his mouth bloody and bruised. The growl was already in the back of her throat as her blood ran hot, rolling from her chest to have the men look in them in fear knowing there were wolves in their midst. Rallying what little courage they had they turned on them.
"Now we got a couple of dykes?" The same as before asked his voice heavy with hate.
Hate she knew, hate had her hide and had nearly killed her and her friends. Hate had come and stolen them from their beds, thrown them in a hole. But this hate wasn't the one she knew, it wasn't the fear of what made them different or powerful, it was a hate over something so absurd she had to struggle to breath. This hate was over love, and these men had hurt their friends because they had hid their love for so long.
A song rippled from her breast that sang her rage and the men cowered at it. And in her thoughts that she had to fight for she begged them not to run because then she couldn't keep the beast at bay, keep her Wolf from running free. Holding her friend and Familiar tight by her arm and feeling her tremble in anger, she couldn't force that on her after all else she had. Trying to speak, she was saved from the feat as Bobby and John limped past to take them in welcome arms and whisper assurances and lead them away.
Putting miles behind them in silence other than the engine pushed hard to take them home, with the top down and the night brought in with every breath this time there were no deer nor rabbit nor any animal near. They had all heard her song and known to run.
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She didn't know where she was and the thought scared her, the moment the car doors opened she had been out and running just to tire out the thing inside her and keep it away from the place she called home. She wasn't alone nor never would be, for curled up with her was Jubilee, both breathless and tired and hiding beneath a fallen tree whose roots had been torn from the forest floor.
And now a blanket was being wrapped around her and her friend alike, and now a camp was being broken and a fire made. And how long it was before she was able to see again she didn't know but she felt his arms about her and felt safe.
"I wanted to hurt them Logan..." Rogue croaked, blinded again by tears.
Nothing was said yet as he ran the back of his hand against her cheek slow and gentle it was more than words could ever say. That he found her, found them was enough, his promise kept. Never gonna leave ya alone again.
"Get some sleep Darlin', dream of yer Silverfox." Logan whispered.
And the wind that blew through the boughs brought with it a promise, to bring the greetings of the Fox Spirit for her. Sleep came as inevitable as the dawn, a sleep with dreams of where the sun set.
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