A/N: You all know the drill, I don't own anything, except Kela, and the Catchers. PS, I want to see what everyone thinks of my X-Men story. please R&R! I will love you all if (and when) you do.

Safety, For Now

This is impossible. He can't be alive. I killed him, Kela thought. She was perplexed as to how this man, who she knew she killed, is sitting up, glaring at her. This is when Kela noticed that her clothes where tossed around the clearing, giving the man a full view of herself. Completely naked. Turning a nice dark shape of deep red, she turned into a dog, and grabbed all of her clothes. Most of them were torn, but she could still wear them. She dragged them off into the bush, where she changed back, and put her torn and dirty clothes back on.

Kela contemplated running, but she was so sure about the Catcher, he certainly didn't tranquilize her, and she wasn't dead yet. But a Catcher was a Catcher, and she couldn't trust him, not yet. Speaking was never going to happen. If she spoke to him, he could alert any others her position and then she was screwed. Yes, she wasn't going to speak, at all.

Walking out of the bush, she warily walked up to him, but not to close. Kela had learned to stay away from anyone and everyone who came through the jungle. The man was tensed, like he expected her to change and attack him again. Maybe that's what he wanted, or maybe he wanted to help. Kela flinched as he held out his hand.

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to, but I fell out of the tree, goddamn branch. I'm Logan, I'm from up in New York, and I wanted to tell you, that there is a place were people like us—"

"I'm not one of you" Kela snapped, before quickly covering her mouth. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She mentally kicked herself. She cannot talk, or else she was doomed. She started to back off into the trees. The man called Logan tried to reason with her, but Kela wouldn't listen to him. "Please, wait, let me just explain…" Kela shook her head, and turned to go. She ran smack into a Catcher, a real one. Kela's blood turned to ice in her veins, and she started to hyperventilate. She heard a soft "snick!" and looked down to see that Logan had knives coming out of his hands. A feral growl escaped his throat. He sounds like me, Kela thought. Maybe he isn't one.

Trust him.

A voice sounded in her head, and she jumped. Kela thought for sure she was going insane. It was the jungle; it's starting to mess with her mind again. Kela tried to back away, but her feet were glued to the ground. She had never been this close to a Catcher before, and she didn't like it one bit. He was a large, thickset man, pale white, with blonde hair and blue eyes. His stone-like face was masked in an emotionless state, and at first, she thought that maybe he could not speak, oh how she was wrong.

"Peace, mutant, we are only here for the girl. If she comes peacefully, no harm will befall her. You have ten seconds to respond." His voice was a monotone, but it was deep, with a slight rasp to it. To mechanical, Kela would think.

"Don't think so, bub, I've heard of you and your little company, and I think it's time to shut you down." Logan barked. He launched himself at the clone, which quickly sidestepped out of the way and landed a crushing blow on Logan's back. He landed on the ground with a grunt, and rolled once or twice, before stopping. The Catcher turned toward Kela, and began to advance. Kela was to frozen to move, but she tried to run. The Catcher grabbed her by the wrist, and started squeezing, hard. She cried out and shoved the thing away from her with surprising force. He only moved back about five feet. The Catcher launched itself after her, slamming her against a tree. Kela was instantly knocked unconscious. The last thing she saw before her eyesight went black was the Catcher standing over her limp body.

Kela awoke to the smell of cooking meat. Her head was throbbing, and she felt tightness around her wrist, the one where the Catcher had grabbed. It was bound in a type of sterile gauze, and there was a thin support that was taped from her palm to the middle of her forearm. She looked up to see Logan sitting on the far side of a small fire, turning some kind of animal on a spit. Kela's mouth watered, but she held back. He may have helped her, but that didn't mean she could trust him. Not yet.

He picked up the animal off the spit and held it out to her. "Trust me, yet?" he asked, as if reading her mind. Kela gingerly approached Logan, and she grabbed the spit and scooted back to her original place. She started devouring the animal, she was very hungry, and the small meat and dried fruit she had eaten earlier in the day had worn off long before the little affair with Logan and the Catcher. She burned her tongue on the scalding meat, but it tasted very good. She was about halfway through when she realized that he had nothing to eat. She handed him the spit with the half-eaten animal, and climbed up into the trees. She poked her head back down, motioning him to eat. She shimmied up the tree and began to pick the fruit that grew there. Near the top was a fleshy, mango-sized fruit, which she grabbed two of the largest ones and slid back down. Breaking open the fruits, she scooped out most of the inner flesh, and left an empty shell, about an inch thick. She took some water and poured it into the shell, and took a pinch of the inside of the fruit.

She placed the shell of the fruit on top of the fire, and waited for the heat to cook the water to a near boiling point. Grabbing the shell quickly, she laid it outside the fire, until the water was cool enough to drink. She drank a small mouthful, and handed the rest to Logan. She could still taste sweetness of the fruit as he swallowed the rest. He nodded in approval.

"It helps stave off hunger", she whispered. A little spoken word never hurt anyone before, right? Kela thought. The voice sounded in her head again, this time it was a warm chuckle. She tried to shake the laugh out of her head, but to no avail.

It's all right; I'm not here to hurt you. I just came to tell you to relax and trust him: he is good. The voice, a deep and comforting one, continued to reassure her. Kela wondered what was happening, but she needed to focus on Logan again, he was handing her something.

"Take these, you look like you could use some clean clothes. No, don't put them on yet, I need you to hide, turn into something, like a dog, or cat. I'm going to take you back to New York; there is a place where you can live safely. Trust me, just for a bit. I promise not to let anything hurt you." Logan said, staring into Kela's dark-green eyes. Kela pondered this, at odds with her natural survival instincts and the voice in her head giving her a reason to let someone, anyone in.

He seems fine, but I still don't understand why I should trust him? What makes him so special?

There are many things, Kela, which you will have to figure out for yourself. I am only a guide for you, to learn to trust, to help, to truly survive. Let them in, and you will find many things about your powers that you would never be able to tap.

But, how do you know all this? Who are you?

You will find out in time. But, for now, trust him. The voice told her. There was something in the tone that made her relax, to be at peace. She nodded. Logan smiled, and took the clothing back. And told her to follow.

"You don't talk much, do you? Fine by me, I hate annoying kids." He stated. Kela was curious about this Logan. She knew (well, found out) that Logan was some kind of non-Shifter who could heal him, and he had metal knives that would pop out of his hands. She needed to be wary, he looks like he angers easily. They walked along in companionable silence, until they came to one of Kela's holes. She remembered something that she felt would come in handy someday, so she opened the door, and crawled inside. Kela knew she would not miss the small, dank, dirty hole. Reaching back, she pulled out a dirt-covered cloth bag, and crawled back out. Inside the bag were about eight flowers. They were a bright red, with the color getting progressively lighter as the petals reached the center. They had a restorative power when you crushed a single petal. Something told her that these flowers could solve something.

"Are you done? We need to get outta here. Something smells funny. Logan arched his nose, and smelled the air. Kela could sense it, too. Changing into a dog, she followed closely, a small whine escaping her throat. He hissed out a "shh!" and released his claws. Kela growled. There was someone watching them. Her hearing picked something up, and she tensed, ready to attack. What am I doing? I can't get too involved with my shift, just what Maria told me. Kela thought. Putting her long, thin nose to the ground, she smelled the area for any kind of person. She looked up to face the barrel of the gun, and she backed off.

A tall, muscular man walked out of the bush, gun still pointed at the Kela-dog. The man seemed to tower over Logan, and his sweaty, bearded face was twisted into a sneer. His black eyes boor into Kela as he cocked the gun, preparing to shoot.

"Well, well, Logan looks like you found the girl. Now, I'll just take her off your hands, and maybe I won't kill her. It's been a while, brother."

"Don't think that you can take her, sabretooth, and since when does an animal like you use a gun?"

The man called Sabretooth laughed. "You have no idea what she is, do you? Don't think I have forgotten that you nearly killed me on Liberty Island. Luckily, I don't die as easily. Now, stupid bitch, come with me." He slammed the barrel into her head, and she wobbled. With a snarl, Logan launched himself at Sabretooth, knocking the gun from his hands. Kela shook her head, and turned back to her regular self, then thinking of another image. A tiger. Her body hunched down as it sprouted a tail, growing fur, and the long, sharp canines to boot. Roaring, she slammed into Sabretooth, and sunk her teeth into his arm. He yelled, and hit a fist into her face, hoping to knock her loose.

She held on, biting down harder, and harder, hearing the bone snap from the pressure. Sabertooth once again slammed his fist into her face, and she released. He stood up, holding his broken arm.

"You have no idea what is going on, do you? Don't think I won't find her again. He is waiting for her." As an answer, she roared at him. He snarled, and backed into the trees. Logan picked himself up, and retracted his claws. Cracking his neck, he said, "Well, that was interesting. Lets go, we are running out of time." What does he mean, brother? Logan thought. A memory tickled at the back of his mind, but he dismissed it.

Kela turned back into a dog, and followed Logan a distance behind him. She had a respect for the man, and she was certain he was no Catcher. I wonder what's in— wow. That is one cool flyer. She thought. They had reached a clearing, where the X-Jet stood. The proud black plane, stood waiting. The door opened, and Kela and Logan walked inside. Kela took the clothes again from Logan, and turned back into her normal self and changed. A man sat in one of the chairs. Kela recoiled; the man was extremely pale, an albino, with large yellow eyes. He was very gaunt-looking, as if he had never been fed quite enough, and had never seen the sun.

"Logan and the girl are late. Do you know how long Caliban has been waiting? It's been days."

"Can it, white-face. She was hard to track. Don't mind Caliban, he's harmless."

"Caliban tracked the Kela girl. Logan should not have left Caliban to starve in the Jet." He smiled at her, "hello." He held out a hand to her. She stared at it until he dropped it. She sat in one of the jet's chair, furthest from Caliban and the cockpit. No use in getting familiar, I'm sure that I will have to leave as soon as I arrive in…where am I going again? She thought.

New York, the voice answered. Kela jumped again. She still hadn't gotten used to the unknown voice popping into her head from time to time.

The voice chuckled again. Sleep, it will be a long ride back to New York. Would you like me to answer any questions?

Yes, why me? She answered.

Because you will ultimately decide the fate of the world one day very soon. I will need you as well. I can help you control your powers, help you unlock your true self, and allow you to trust again. Anything else? The voice asked. There was one Kela most wanted to know.

What is your name? Simple enough, one would think.

Fine. But then will you sleep?

Yes.

Kela could feel the voice smile. It's Charles.