There were strangers on the island. Wolfsbane could hear their plane as it touched down on the windswept landing field. She left her lair to examine the intruders as they set foot on her territory – keeping a wary distance, she watched as they stepped down one by one. There were four of them: two young males, a young female, and an older male, who was obviously the leader of this new pack. He was short in stature, but powerful, and she could sense the barely controlled anger as he walked toward the building.
Strangely, she somehow didn't feel as threatened by the strangers as she should have; there was something familiar, almost reassuring about them. Puzzled by this, the wolf decided to forgo challenging them as they crossed the field, content instead to observe them unseen. She was upwind of them, but the wolf knew that puny humans lacked the ability to see the world of scent as she could, so that was unimportant.
However, halfway across the field the leader paused, and appeared to be testing his nose against the wind like a wolf would do. He stared briefly at the spot where Wolfsbane was concealed, frowning, then shrugged his shoulders and moved on. The hidden wolf was further confused by this display – the intruder seemed human, but he had acted like a wolf. But confusion is not a natural state for a wolf, and it quickly passed. The man was what he was, thinking about it was not going to change anything, and so she accepted it without engaging any rational processes.
And then the intruders were inside the building and Wolfsbane was left alone on the empty moor. She followed them inside; still wary of their strangeness and wanting to make sure they understood that they were trespassing on her pack's territory. They gathered outside the room she had made her lair, so she retreated to the nest she had made in the corner of that room and watched them with guarded alertness.
They were watching her too, and were talking to the leaders of her pack, the male and the red-haired female.
"…completely unresponsive," the female was saying. "She appears not to recognise us as people she has met and talked to. Perhaps you'll have better luck…."
"Sam and I should go in," one of the younger male strangers said quickly. "We know her the best, and I… she's always come to us with her problems before – we should be able to reach her." He seemed completely assured of himself.
"If you say so, sunshine," said his pack leader. He didn't sound convinced however – he had been observing the wolf more closely than the rest and had noted things about her behaviour that the others had missed. "But be careful in there – she is a wolf, and wolves don't take too kindly to strangers intruding on their territory."
"We're not strangers though," the boy replied confidently.
The door opened, and the two young males entered her lair. Wolfsbane growled at them as a warning and took up a defensive position, baring her teeth. She was ready to fight to protect herself from these strangers who were invading her lair.
"Hey, Wolfie, it's me," said one of them, an olive-skinned boy with black hair. He walked toward the wolf, who started to back away while still keeping her teeth bared, ready to leap if he made any overt motions to attack. She deepened her growl slightly.
"I'd back off if I were you, Berto," said the other one, a tall lanky youth with longish blond hair. "I think you're worrying her."
"No, it's okay Sammy, she knows me... She wouldn't forget! I just have to get close enough to reach her, so she can recognise me. This is still Rahne, she still knows us!" the boy replied forcefully. And with that he moved closer to the wolf.
Something that had been bothering Wolfsbane finally dawned on her. The boy's smell. It awakened something, some buried memory that insisted on telling her that the boy was not a stranger, that he was... something familiar. But the memories refused to come to the surface and the young male was still a stranger as far as she could otherwise tell. The confusion threatened to overwhelm her, causing her anxiety to build. She backed away further as he approached, apprehensive of this bewildering intruder, but ended up forced into a corner as he continued to advance.
"Come on Wolfie," he was saying. "You've got to let us help you deal with this. You've got to come back for everyone, for me…." He stretched out a hand toward her.
The strange scent grew even stronger as he went to touch her. Her internal debate escalated, the insistent hints of memory battling against the instincts that were telling her to distrust this strange intruder who was invading her territory. But the wolf was not equipped for reasoning out a dilemma – other instincts were telling her that introspection was pointless. Finally instinct won out – the invasion of her personal space was too immediately threatening to be forgotten about. She closed her jaws on the outstretched hand.
The boy pulled away hurriedly, clutching his hand. He uttered a number of expletives loudly, which fortunately meant absolutely nothing to Wolfsbane, then retreated further back and glared at her. The wolf returned the stare from her corner. She was still on guard against further aggression, and ready to defend herself with more than a warning bite.
"I think we should leave now," said the blonde male firmly, pulling his companion out the door. "You've pissed her off, and you know what she gets like.…"
They disappeared, but were almost instantly replaced by the other two strangers, the pack leader and the young female. The male motioned the female to stay back then strode toward Wolfsbane. His stance was exactly that of a dominant male wolf – head up, shoulders square, and she could even believe that his ears were perked up, even though he lacked the pointed ears of a wolf. Instinctively she found herself assuming a more docile position, crouching down and whining submissively.
Maintaining eye contact with the wolf all the while, he then spoke to the young female he had brought with him. "Okay Stripes. Your turn now."
The girl started to advance somewhat hesitantly toward the pair in the corner. Wolfsbane watched her draw near out of the corner of her eye. Closer, and closer… she was right beside the male. "Logan, are ya sure about this?" she asked.
"Do it," he replied.
Cautiously, the girl reached out to touch the wolf. Wolfsbane growled at the new invasion of her space and prepared to bite this assailant too, but the man snarled at her just as a dominant male wolf would and she cowered back obediently, resigning head. Then she blacked out...
……
Rahne came to a minute later. Mr Logan was kneeling in front of her, with Rogue behind him. "Where am I?" she asked weakly, not sure of anything.
"You're in the Research Centre on Muir Island," he told her. "You've been here for three weeks."
"But… I…." Remembrance dawned. "They're dead, aren't they? He killed them." She found it difficult to muster any kind of energy to put emotion into her voice. She could still see the flames, and the Reverend's impassive expression. But then she remembered what had led to the fire. "No, it was my fault. I got them killed."
"It wasn't your fault, Rahne."
"But, I didn't… I should have done something! And now, they, they're gone…," her voice broke off as all the pain and guilt of remorse that couldn't be ignored in her human form finally caught up with her. It was still too much she thought, she had to get away from it again. She had to….
"No," said Logan immediately, obviously picking up on her thought processes. "You can't keep escaping to wolf form forever. You've got to deal with it sooner or later."
"But it's too much, I can't… this way I can manage…," she protested.
"No." The word was said with finality, and there were still enough of her wolf instincts remaining that she obeyed the man implicitly. "You've got to keep your humanity. Otherwise you're nothing."
"What would you know about it?" Rahne challenged him resentfully. "You don't know what it's like!"
She saw the merest flicker pass across his face. "You can go now, Stripes," he told Rogue quietly. The older girl silently left the room. When the door closed behind her, Logan continued. "I do know what it's like to have someone you love die for you. I've been there." Rahne stared at him in shock. "You want it all to just go away, so you can forget about it while it's too fresh and painful. It's easiest to give in to your instincts and go run with the wolves. You can forget about the pain, the recriminations and just exist." Rahne nodded. The gruff Canadian seemed to be reading her mind. But how did he know? She'd always assumed that the instructor had a wolf's senses, but not the same instincts which often guided her own actions. Perhaps she'd been wrong about that.
"But why not?" she asked challengingly, proper submission to a dominant male forgotten with the more pressing concerns of human form. "Isn't it easier for everyone if I stay as a wolf?"
"It's a cop-out, kid," Logan replied. "You're just running from your problems, hiding from them. If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that you've got to do things the hard way, because the easy way always ends up harder in the long run." She wasn't sure what he meant, but he went on. "Trust me, kid. You've got to work through your issues, not just avoid them. Took me a long time to learn that, but it's true.
"It's just…," she began.
"It's hard, yeah, but it's not just you you're doing it for." Rahne looked at him, puzzled. She didn't understand. "There's a lot of people out there who care about you, kid. They don't want to see you slip away from them. I don't think young Sunshine wants to be carrying out a relationship with an animal, and Dr MacTaggert doesn't need a pet. They want the human girl they know and love, not the wolf. It's not fair for you to escape from your troubles and leave them to deal with it."
Rahne thought about this. About how Moira had been so patient with her in her wolf form, and Roberto and Sam had come halfway across the world to help her. She didn't want to be the cause of them suffering. "I suppose you're right," she said reluctantly.
"Course I am." Logan grinned. And that seemed to be all that needed to be said.
They sat there without talking for a minute or two. Logan apparently had nothing more to say, and Rahne was still feeling too numb after her experiences to carry on a conversation. Then the silence was suddenly broken by a crashing noise and the sound of a loud "holy shit!" delivered in a Southern accent….