A/N: Just wanted to give credit where credit is due for the song in this chapter; the song is "Gravity" (written by Yoko Kanno. . . I forget who sings it), the ending song for most of the episodes in the series "Wolf's Rain". I just finished watching that series yesterday, so I figured I'd include the song in my writing. Wolf's Rain is one of the best anime series I've ever seen. :) Enjoy this chapter!


Logan felt the sun rouse him from his pleasant slumber. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes. He'd been dreaming about a place that seemed so real . . . . just within his reach. Running in the sheer darkness with the one person who'd chosen him when he'd opened his heart . . . Athena—the child-like woman who'd showed him what it meant to want to help someone. The image of her wolf form, and the night he'd first saw it, would forever remain engraved in his memory.

As he turned over in bed to face Athena (who'd been sleeping beside him), he was surprised to see that she had gone and awoken before him. But she had left a note on the pillow. It wasn't written in normal ink, as Logan carefully sniffed it. He realized that it was written in her blood.

Logan,

I'm sorry I had to leave you like this in bed . . . but you look so peaceful now. Don't worry about me; it's nothing serious. I just had to go downstairs and receive someone from home. I think the time when Xaphania and this mutant academy will become one draws near, and wolves, vampires, and all other sorts of supernaturals will come to me for guidance. It's sure to be a hectic time . . . and I'm sorry to say, this might not be the only time I'll leave you in bed nowadays.

I once thought . . . . that I wouldn't . . .. couldn't possibly handle all of the forces tugging at me, asking me for a piece of me. I thought, a few months and a lifetime ago, that this pressure, not Siete, would take me. But I was wrong . . . you're my salvation. Knowing that there's a man who loves me, and only me, gives me strength. They say that behind every successful man, there's a strong woman. But you'll always be my strength . . . my strong man, helping me through my sorrows.

I love you,

Athena

Logan didn't quite know what to feel as his eyes traced over Athena's loving words, and as he imagined her tender hand penning them as he slept next to her. No one, not even a lover, had ever showed him affection or showered him with tenderness. Logan had been in love before, even before Jean, but he'd always been the one who prostrated his soul before his beloved. He felt a change within his soul as he tucked the letter away in his own nightstand, but not before kissing it tenderly.

Carefully rising from his bed as he felt a minor twinge of pain in his spine, Logan noticed, as he accustomed his eyes to the bright light of the day, that the bed was unmade, naturally because he'd just risen from it. At that moment, Logan could imagine Athena in his mind's eye as she fixed up the bed, making it look like it hadn't been slept in for days and belonged in a five-star hotel. Before he realized what he was doing, Logan had made the bed in just the way Athena had done, except for the fact that there were still a few unruly corners and uneven edges of the bedspread that he had to fix.

Rather than fix them, however, he let them be, wanting to go downstairs and look for his Athena . . . in the hope that they could have breakfast together. Logan showered and cleaned up, feeling better and more awake as he did so. He dressed in a plain white shirt and moderately tight leather jeans, casually slipping on his leather jacket that Rogue had given him for Christmas a few years ago. Logan, though he knew that Xavier didn't like late-risers, didn't much care what the Professor thought as his loud footsteps echoed down the stairs. He thought he'd find everyone already getting on with their day, and to hear the breakfast plates being cleared, but he didn't hear a sound. The sound of a piano was the only sound he heard—but he didn't mind. It was beautiful. A sound followed it that Logan would know until the day he died—Athena's lovely voice, a gift from the part of her that was a muse, began to sing.

"Been a long road to follow, been there and gone tomorrow, without saying goodbye to yesterday. Are the memories I hold still valid?...or have the tears deluded them? Maybe this time tomorrow the rain will cease to follow and the mist will fade into one more today. Something, somewhere out there, keeps calling . . . . . . . . Am I going home? Will I hear someone singing solace to the silent moon? Zero gravity what's it like? Am I alone? Is somebody there beyond these heavy aching feet? Still the road keeps on telling me to go on . . . . Something is pulling me—I feel the gravity of it all."

Logan heard the haunting sound, eerie compared to the beauty of Athena's voice, of a violin accompany the piano's music, and Athena continued to sing, her voice matching the eerie quality of the violin, but retaining its own beauty as well. He could barely move of his own volition as he heard the beautiful music play, and only followed the pull of the violin and his love's voice. He came upon the room just as the music ended, and, without making himself known to Athena or the werewolf that accompanied her on his violin, watched the young woman, wanting to surprise her.

"That was good. I've loved this song . . . ever since Lupin adopted me. He taught me it." Athena spoke to the werewolf, whose name was Ewan and was soon to be the King of the Wolves, as he listened attentively while holding his violin.

"Really?" His Australian accent matched the green hue of his eyes. "What's it called?"

"It's called Gravity. I'm surprised you don't know it . . . it's a famous werewolf song." Athena stretched her arms, and Logan noticed that she was still in her nightclothes. She yawned, and as she rose, Ewan caught her arm.

"Why are you with him?"

"What? Who do you mean?"

Ewan almost spat his words. "You know who I mean. That fake wolf. The mutant. Logan-kuso."

Athena clenched her teeth. "Don't you EVER call him that! He's more of a man than any wolf I've met. He's risked everything, lost everything, and still raring for more." Athena looked hatefully at Ewan, though they were friends. "If life was fair, then HE'D been born the King of the Wolves, and you'd be a nobody. A low-life. Someone who would try to take advantage of people." Her eyebrow cocked, and the vampiric blood was evident in her voice as she whispered dangerously, "How did you know, anyway? I haven't told anyone."

"We all heard from Versace. He was the one who made your dress and arranged for those play tickets. Athena, stop with all this foolishness. We all know that you're just with Logan because he's convenient since you lost Lestat. Lupin wants you to realize that he's not your future. Your future is with wolves and vampires, not with these renegade mutants, struggling for a place in humanity. Your future . . . is with me." Ewan tried to touch Athena's face gently and kiss her, but she pushed him away.

"Ewan-kuso bakuro!" Athena roared. Her adamantine claws, almost exactly like Logan's, shot out from her hands, and she held them to the young werewolf's throat. "Don't you dare say that to me. Have you no gratitude . . . no. . . RESPECT! The only reason that you're the first matrix is that I put you there. No one else has done for you what I have. Now you force yourself on me? May Diana curse you, and steal your form to give to my Logan! You're no wolf. You're just a whining dog, used to having his way." Athena sighed, and willed her adamantine claws back into her knuckles.

"Ewan, I love him. I'm not just using him. He's given me . . . freedom. Total freedom within love. I haven't even lain with him, in the figurative sense of the word. Just looking in his eyes completes my life. Not any other suitor I've ever had . . . especially not you . . . could give me that." She looked her startled werewolf friend in the eyes and said, as kindly as she could despite the hate and disdain that boiled within her, "Ewan, you're my friend. As far as I'm concerned, you'll always be my friend. But if this keeps up . . . for my own court's safety and for the sake of my own will, I'll cut ties with you. I mean it . . . . I'll make Keanu first matrix and go out looking for another third matrix to replace the missing spot. I'll banish you . . . so please, take my advice. Don't make me your enemy . . . I'm a great friend, but I'm as evil an enemy as I am a good friend. Siete will find that out soon enough . . . I don't want to have to show that to you next. So please, just leave . . . until my father comes to unify the houses. And tell him everything I've told you."

Ewan found the courage within to look into Athena's black eyes, and whispered relatively loudly, "I just want you to know . . . . if this Logan guy ever hurts you . . . . I'll be there for you. Until I die. I'll always be there, whatever you need. Friend . . . . confidante . . . . something more—"

He would've continued, if Logan hadn't chosen that moment to emerge from the shadows. "If I hurt her? Judging by what I've seen, it's you that hurting her." Logan's voice was smooth but dangerously rough. "Get out of here. I hope I don't have to do any more than tell you. Athena's more than capable of getting a point across when she wants to. Got it, bub?"

Ewan shook his head to the affirmative nervously, then left through the fireplace, almost running he was so frightened. As he went, Logan's attention focused now on an ordinary brown package that had been left by the strange werewolf beside the fireplace.

"What's this?" Logan said, suspicious of the forward Ewan's intentions.

"Oh, those are the necklaces that will keep anybody from entering Xaphania and this place that isn't wanted. Ewan delivered them this morning . . . everyone at Xaphania's already wearing them." Athena turned toward her love, a soft expression in her eyes. "Logan, I . . . I just want you to know that I'm sorry. I never should have seen him alone. He . . . he and I used to date, back when we were training and in school together. I broke up with him, but he seemed to still love me, even when I had moved on to Lestat." Athena laughed sadly, a sense of desperation creeping down her spine. "And now I've fallen in love with a man across the sea, and he still won't leave me alone. How tragic my life still is."

Logan pulled Athena closer to him, and wrapped his arms around Athena's waist, slipping under the thin shirt of her sleeping clothes to touch the cold skin of her stomach. "Don't ever say sorry for that again," he said, kissing her neck gently. "You got hurt. Not him . . . he should have just moved on, whether or not he was still in love with you. That's what you do . . . . you get on with life." As he spoke, and though Athena was in his arms, he remembered his love for Jean. He'd forgotten it—lost himself entirely in Athena—and seemed to remember it like a long-forgotten dream. Logan regarded it as the sort of dream that one didn't want to forget but didn't want to remember either— hanging in that limbo of scarcely remembered images.

Athena could sense something was wrong, so she wrapped her arms around Logan's neck. "What's wrong?" Her voice wasn't much more than a whisper, though it stirred the embers of a fire in Logan's heart. He looked at her, this woman more powerful than any fighter in the world, who was willing to make herself vulnerable for him—to lie helplessly in his arms.

She reached up to kiss the space in-between his two collarbones, but Logan's lips rushed to meet hers instead. He grabbed her tongue with his in a wild possession; Athena had had many kisses in her lifetime, but none had left her so breathless as his. She moaned in pleasure, and Logan began to explore all of the curves of her body with his hands. He felt that she had curvy hips, though they were muscular, and that her midsection was so slender he could feel all of the muscles tightening and relaxing around her stomach. Athena gasped for air as she felt the light and sensual touch of Logan as his hand slipped up her shirt and finally rested on her right breast. He gently fondled it, and she couldn't help but shudder in ecstasy. No man had ever been so eager to please her, and she was eager to find a way to please him in the shower of his room--but she wouldn't. Ever since she stopped being a prostitute in France, Athena promised herself that if she ever fell deeply in love with another man, she'd wait until the right time to give herself to him. Logan was the man to whom she would now apply that promise. As he began to move on to her left breast, she gently clutched his wrist. "Logan," she said, still panting with pleasure a bit, as she broke the kiss, "we can't."

"Why not?" Logan didn't even want to question whether Athena loved him or not. He already knew the answer; he had a feeling that this was a part of herself, something she needed to ask of him to complete herself and reconcile her past.

"A long time ago, when I . . . when I was at Versailles, and Lestat rescued me, I promised myself that I'd wait for the right time if I fell in love again. That I'd give myself to the man I love when the time was exactly right. I'm sorry. But this is something I have to do . . . to convince myself that I've changed, that I'm not that whore in Versailles." Athena gently slipped his hand down her shirt, until his hand was at his own side. Her skin was still shuddering at Logan's touch, and she longed for the time when her heart would tell her that the right moment had finally arrived. Athena had never made love with someone who loved her (Lestat was "ill-equipped"), and she was hungry for the experience. The look in Athena's eyes was enough for Logan, who let go of her hip as he planted a kiss on her cheek. "Alright, babe," he said, as the roguish glint in Logan's eyes, which Athena loved so much, shone, "I'll let you go for now . . . but you get your way only for as long as you can resist me."

She smiled. What a very masculine thing to say, she thought, and Logan could tell what she thought of his proposal from the expression on her face. Drawing close to her again, Logan let his mouth stray close to Athena's ear as he ran his fingers through her hair. He whispered, with heat and love in his voice, "Don't ever think you're that same woman who sold herself in Versailles. You've changed . . . I can see it in your eyes. You're strong—won't lie down for anyone. Not even your friends. You'll change the world one day, I know . . . and that woman will be left in the ashes of decadent Versailles forever." He kissed her neck, and Athena blushed. She could feel the warmth of his kisses through every fiber and muscle. Barely able to find the words, Athena stammered, "I-I have to go take a shower, okay? Then . . when I come down, we can have breakfast together."

Logan smiled, and sighed as he watched his love run up the stairs to their room. Sooner than he thought he would, he heard the sound of the water in the shower being turned on. He imagined Athena there, naked, and washing herself off . . . but no, he shouldn't torment himself so much. After all, this wasn't a relationship where he had to live in torment of his feelings. Athena loved him as much as he loved her. It wasn't right to think of having her when they were still so early in their relationship, and, more importantly, when she'd asked him to wait. For now, he'd have to be satisfied with memorizing the beautiful curves that only she had. Her back curved like a snake's back, graceful but powerful at the same time. She had the womanly curves of a goddess—not like Athena at all, but more like Aphrodite. Logan smiled as he thought of Athena's eyes. Their hue had once startled him, but now he found them indescribably beautiful. They were like pieces of the shining sky, and Logan wanted to sleep within them.

No sooner had Logan been enraptured in his little reverie about Athena had another apparent member of Xaphania entered the door; he was an older gentleman, but powerful under his seemingly old exterior. He looked somewhat like Keanu, Athena's older brother who'd come to check on the well-being of his younger sister.

Then it occurred to him; this man was Athena's "father"—Lupin Solcannis. One of the most powerful and influential werewolves at Xaphania. Logan's muscles tensed a bit, his instincts telling him that a confrontation was imminent. Logan was a loner, and always would be; he didn't need anybody to tell him how to live his life. If what he'd heard from the wolf that'd tried to kiss Athena was true, Lupin was less than happy about him and Athena. Logan thought of the reason that Athena's famous adopted father might actually be here, hoping that it wasn't to confront him. Is he here to join the two houses? Logan wondered. No one's awake, except for Athena and me. If he tries to tear us apart, I'll . . . But, honestly, what could he do? The man in front of him had command over the form of a wolf, as Athena did. Logan could only change with the help of Athena, and had only done it once—a fluke, really. All he could hope, under his tough exterior, was that Lupin was there for professional purposes.

Lupin's voice wasn't rough, but it was commanding all the same as he turned towards Logan. "Excuse me, have you seen my daughter, Athena?"

Logan stretched his arms and sat down in the chair that Ewan had been sitting in not long ago. "She's actually upstairs taking a shower. We're gonna have breakfast together when she's dressed." He cleared his throat. "You're her father?"

Lupin nodded diplomatically, a small proud smile on his face. "And judging by your exterior, you must be Logan. Wolverine— that's your other name, right?" Lupin sat down on the piano bench, though he wasn't facing the shiny black grand piano. "I never would have imagined that my daughter would have fallen in love with someone like you."

"Someone like me? What's that supposed to mean?" Logan's anger began to emerge a bit, as anger mixed with the gravel-like quality of his voice.

"I mean . . . you know, you're famous—in a manner of speaking— back home. At Xaphania, I mean. I guess I could call both of these houses my home, really." He sighed, and looked up at the Academy, a sentimental look on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Athena didn't tell you? Well, she wouldn't have. It isn't that important. A long while ago, when I was first made a werewolf—I was bitten, you know— Xavier was the first person that taught me that what I had become wasn't a curse. I could do good within the werewolf community. He taught me to control the form, use it to manifest myself in it, and be a wholly good person despite my . . . unique circumstances. If it hadn't been for him, I guess it's safe to say that the school of Xaphania wouldn't have been born in London. You might have never met Athena." A distinct London accent was upon Lupin's voice, and the fact that it was similar to Athena's own accent made Logan slightly relax.

Almost taking Logan by surprise, Lupin turned to Logan and asked him, looking him straight in the eye, "What do you see in my daughter? I mean, she's a wonderful woman. But . . . why are you with her?" Throwing up his hands, a friendly smile upon his lips, Lupin continued, "I know that Ewan was here earlier this morning. I just want to let you know that I don't disapprove of you and Athena anymore. She's been a grown woman for a very long while now; I just want her to be happy. Honestly, I'm curious, if anything."

Logan closed his eyes, searching for the words that could answer Lupin's question. He saw the image of Athena in his mind, and remembered the first time they'd met. "She's an adventurous woman, and unafraid. Athena's a woman . . . that just makes me feel . . .well, she's the first woman that's come and gone through here that has made me completely lose myself, that I can tell you. And I guess that I wanted to be with her, in the end . . . to help her. In terms of our pasts, she and I are similar. But I want to help her. . and share some of myself with her." Logan looked at Lupin with a smile on his face.

"I see. And has she said why she loves you?"

"That," Logan said, with a macho playfulness in his voice, "is something that you'll either hear from Athena or not at all from me."

Logan had no inkling why, but soon enough, he and the man that had supposedly been dead-set against his and Athena's love, were laughing their heads off.

Apparently, manly humor and being discreet about one's love wasn't just a human or mutant thing.