The Animal Unleashed Part 1: Life

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The Animal Unleashed

Odd smells assaulted his senses as he ran through the woods. His animalistic instincts had been taking over slowly for the last few months. He thought back, the fight with Magneto and his Acolytes had been bitter and violent, much like his entire life. Pain, pain, all was pain as the acolyte Senyaka had torn into his flesh, trying to kill him for his leader Magneto.

He had let himself lose control to survive, especially when he saw his teammates suffering the same pain… no, not his teammates, his family. The only family he had ever known and trusted. His love that could possibly never be with her silver white hair and dark silken skin, his brother, in spirit, with the genius he could not have, dazzling in the intricate way that he cofigufigure out the mysteries of the universe and intricacies of the fabric of life. His father, not on the battlefield in person, but in spirit and mind, feeling every hurt and pain of their physical bodies and in their minds, but none more than his own. His best friend, the smooth talker, suffering his own form of personal torture from his past, something so terrible and painful that the guilt would not allow him to open up, not even to his one love. She, like his eldest daughter, forever separated from the others around her by millimeters of fabric, so as not to kill them by accident. In a way she suffers like he does, emotionally attached but forever separated, never able to feel the comforting effect of skin other than her own again. His polar opposite, both with mutual admiration and grudging respect, but also mutual dislike for one another. The boy scout, the fearless leader, the team player, he was the exact opposite of Logan, yet similar in so many ways. But there was something that had changed between them. An anger for one another had started to form for no reason at all. And finally his soul mate, she owned his heart and spirit, but she belonged to another. And Logan would wait for her, hopping that they would splinter apart, but not wanting to see her suffer with the pain and anguish it would cause her.

The mere thought of causing her any pain drove him wild with rage as he ran through the forest hunting. All this flashed through his mind as he tracked his prey. The animal in him took over as he closed in on the object of his hunger washing away all human thought as hunger for flesh overpowered his consciousness. In the night he stopped and sniffed the air, cocking his ear to listen for the soft hoof beats of the deer. There to the right, he ran, unsheathing his claws through the momentary pain of the flesh on his hands. Food, pain, food, pain …was all that ran through him as he surprised the deer and slaughtered it. As he fed, Pain ran through him, pain overwhelmed him, he fed and pain was his companion.


Pain. Warmth and pain. But the pain wasn’t from his memories, it was from the position he was sleeping in. Something was digging into Logan’s ribs. He stretched out to his full length and rolled away from the pain in his side. Logan’s hyperactive sense of smell picked out blood, a lot of blood. So much blood that it drowned out the rest of the smells of the forest. Logan snapped up, fully awake, claws unsheathed, looking around wildly, not knowing exactly why he was here. His eyes landed were the thing that had dug into his ribs was laying. It was pink, the blood and flesh still on it was slowly drying out. He noticed that the bone was gnawed on. Then as his eyes fell on the carcass of the deer, he tasted the remnants of the raw flesh in his mouth. “Shit Logan, yer losin’ it again,” he thought to himself. He thought his wild, feral days were gone. He knew the beast within him was constantly at war with the man he was, but in the months after his admantium was ripped out of him, even the Wolverine was scared at what he had become.

He seethed at the memory of that day. Remembering Asteroid M’s decor and smells, the metal and rock of Magneto’s base. The rage at having him disgrace the funeral of little Illyana, and poisoning Piotr, one of his best friends mind. Hell he had almost ended the war right there in Magneto’s home. “Just a millisecond too slow, damn it. I shouldn’t have growled right before I struck,” he thought. And then Magneto said that their personal war ended then, and all he could remember after that was pain, pain like he had never felt before or since. Pain that was brought back with such intensity that he doubled over just thinking about it. Logan whimpered like a lost puppy with the pain, tears stinging his eyes. Then the memory of her was there. Jean, she had fought through his pain to reach him. “Stay with me Logan!!” she had said as his body was literally falling apart. Her powers were the only thing holding him together as the admantium ripped through his pores. Her face, her beautiful face had appeared to him numbing out the physical pain, but when he looked at her another pain took its place. Just as intense, and one that he had live with sense he first met her, focused his suffering mind long enough to get him back to the mansion. The pain of what could not be, overwhelmed and haunted him then as it did now. But he took comfort in it, it was almost like a gift from her to him. Painful to the extreme, yet sweet in that he could always see her. While she held his body together that day she had talked to him, but he could not hear her, could not understand her for she was muted out by the pain of his body, but he felt her and that was all that was needed to keep him sane, and alive.

Even now he thought he could almost hear her, could almost make out what she was saying then, “Logan!? What’s the matter!? What is wrong!? Are you okay? Answer me Logan please, are you hurt!?” she had said… no what she was saying right now. “What?” he thought back to her trembling. How did she get into my mind like that? “What’s the matter Logan, are you hurt? All I can feel from you is *PAIN* !” “No I am alright Jeanie. It was just a bad dream,” he lied. He closed his mind off as quickly as possible, trying to shield her from his pain and torment. “Are you sure Logan? Why did you close yourself off from me? I can help,” she said worried. “No. I am fine.” he growled back at her. “Well would you like to talk about the dream over coffee?” she returned. “NO!” Logan replied slamming the psylink closed on her.

He trembled with the remembered pain and the renewed pain swelling into one constant ache. He laid back down onto the bloody forest floor and slipped back into pain filled dreams amongst the carnage he had wrought the night before. Pain was his life.

Jean shook her head after Logan slammed the psylink between them down. For the thousandth time she wondered when the psylink between her and Logan had formed, it was totally separate from the link shared by her and Scott. The slightly frightening and guilty thing was that it was stronger than the one with Scott. “I love Scott,” she thought, “and we want to have kids… someday. So why is the link with Logan so much stronger?” It frustrated her that a curveball such as this had been thrown her way. “Yes there is an attraction there,” she had to admit, but Scott was the smart choice, the more stable choice. Logan was always running, from his past, from himself. Scott would always be here for her, for the team. Logan was a nomad, searching for his past, his memories and a life of some normality. He found some of that life here, but he still needed more.

Part of her wanted to be the woman that he could spend his life with, she did want to help him find his past, and his memories. But she could not put everything down to help him like he needed.
He was like a ghost sometimes, here one second, training them as a sensei, teaching them how to survive. The nhe whe was gone, searching for the elusive keys to his past. The comforter, the part of her that loved to hold a man and make everything better ached to hold Logan, whisper in his ear that everything would be okay. He would find his past, unlock his memories, and she would be there helping and comforting him the entire way. She would love to have him come to her, lay his head on her shoulder, cry to her about what was troubling him. But, the logical, nice girl knew that would never happen. It was not him.

“All that is just because Scott and I are having problems”, she thought. They were on the outs right now. He was trying to protect her by making her go slower in developing her powers. She hated that, she was a grown woman. She was twenty-five for Gods sake. She knew he just cared about her and did not want to see her get hurt, but she had confidence she could handle it. She could feel her powers growing. Even now, she could feel the pain, physical and emotional that was ripping at Logan, even though he had thrown up a wall in the psylink between them. The pain and despair from him was palpable. She could taste it and she gave a small whimper, her eyes tearing up as she felt his suffering. And it was her powers that were making it possible.

“Professor,” she thought. “Yes Jean. What is wrong?” he replied in her head. “I need to talk to you about Logan. Can you feel him?” she asked. “Slightly. He is in paine sae said. “Yes, extreme pain, but not from injuries that I can tell.” “Fine, meet me in my office as soon as possible,” he said and was gone. “I’ll help you Logan, I swear I will,” she thought. She turned and headed out of the room and started towards Professor Xavier’s office. “We all will.”

When she reached the Professor’s office he had already taken out Logan’s sizeable dossier. He reviewed it in his mind. Strengths, weaknesses, critical situations, etc., the most frightening thing to Xavier was the plan to stop Logan if it was ever needed. If, one day the beast inside bested the man and took total control, destroying the gates keeping the feral animal at bay…if that happened and Logan became a danger to the world, the only way to stop him, to kill one of the best students, no, best friends Xavier had ever had, would be brutal and one mistake d cod cost them all their lives.

Jean, the closest to Logan would play the pivotal and most horrifying part. She would have to hold him down. The man who Xavier knew loved her, would protect her to his dying breath, she would have to hold him with her mind as Cyclops would chop his head from his body with an optic blast like no other. While a flyer, Rogue or Archangel preferably, would grab the head and fly at least a mile away to bury it before the body would reattach itself. Logan’s healing power was barely researched, the potential that Logan could not die was astronomical. It was also frightening to the core.

When Jean sat down in front of Xavier she stared at the folder on his desk, mouth agape. “Is that what I think it is?” she asked. “Yes, Jean. This is Logan’s Xavier file,” he replied. “But he is in pain professor, not insane,” she said, anger rising. “Pain? How is he in pain?” Xavier asked. Jean thought for a moment and said, “I’m not sure, but I can feel it like it was my own. It hurts like nothing I have felt before. It feels like my skin is being ripped apart from the inside. But that is just the physical pain.” She heaved a long sigh like it hurt for her to breathe. “There is emotional pain as well, and I feel it most intensely when I try to help him with his memories. However, when I made contact today it felt like the physical pain. Just as intense, but even more like sadness and despair.”

Xavier nodded. He looked at the file and then up at Jean. “Is it possible that he is losing his mind again?” he said calmly.” He…we have been through a lot lately. Logan worst of all. Magneto ripped out his admantium releasing the barrier on his healing powers. Logan then goes feral for months during…” he trailed off, remembering the terrible power of Onslaught, ”the battle with Onslaught. The Apocalypse gives him back his admantium without restricting his healing powers. Then Apocalypse brainwashes Logan into being the fourth Horseman, Death.” Xavier looked into Jean’s green eyes, seeing the sorrow and pity for Logan. “Remember how we barley defeated Apocalypse after turning Logan back to his normal self? Not to mention the growing racism against mutants the world over.”

Xavier reigned in his growing anger and sorrow for humanity. “We need to help Logan as best we can. We need to work together in r tor to do that Jean. But I think you are the key. You he trusts the most.” Jean’s face shot up to his when he said this. She pondered this, then said, “Professor, some thing has happened. A psylink has formed between Logan and myself, and the really odd thing is that it is stronger than the one between Scott and me. I’m scared Professor. Why did itm? Wm? Why is it so strong? I just don’t understand,” she said, voice slipping to a wounded whine. Xavier was surprised at this. “One psylink was rare, but two? That was unheard of, and she said it was stronger with Logan than with Scott? This was very, very interesting.” But he saw the fear and insecurity on Jean’s face. “Jean I helped you with the first psylink, I will help you with the second one. I don’t know why it formed or why it is stronger than the first one, but I will help you find out. While we do that however, we must help Logan,” he said. Jean smiled and nodded. They must help her friend, she felt him, his pain and anguish, and she worried for him.

Sleep, this time was slightly better. All he dreamed about was his friends, especially her. He loved her, and felt for them. They were his family, his pack to the beserker beast inside. But he felt like the outsider. He separated himself from them always, in some protective way. He was dangerous, he knew, always fighting the beast within for control of the body, a killing machine made by … who? Who made him this beast, thirsty for blood, the hunt, and the kill. Why did they pick him?
“Logan! Logan!” he heard his name through the subconscious nightmare of pain. “Logan!” It drew him up into wakefulness. Still in the gore of the night’s kill, shirtless. “Thank God I still got my pants on,” he thought thankful“Log“Logan!” he looked up to see the blue and white flash of Capricorn over the treetops.

He smiled, she was new to the school and she reveled in her powers, not ashamed. She was lucky, her family did not care that she had the x-gene. When she came downstairs one day, more like hovered, skin entirely blue and hair white as snow, her parents had immediately contacted the Xavier Institute to help protect their precious daughter from the crazies in the world. When they came to pick her up, Logan, Jean, and Orroro, she had gotten so excited that she ripped the door off of the hinges with her super strength. Her parents thanked them and made plans to come to Westchester in a month. When she left they had trouble letting her go. Logan wondered why more parents weren’t that way.

Keeping his eyes on her, Logan followed her flight path until he was sure that the gnawed on carcass of the deer was out of sight before calling up to her, “Ash! Ashley!” She spun in the air looking down into the trees and slowly descended. “Logan! Oh I’m happy to find you. The whole school is looking for you,” she said as she touched down. “Why is that Capi? Y’all miss me?” he said. “Well the Prof. is looking for you, and Dr. Grey too. Um… where’s your shirt?” She asked. Logan looked down at his chest noticing the faint red hue of blood.

“Tell them I’ll be there in half an hour Capi,” Logan said as he started to jog through the forest back toward the mansion. “Okay Wolvie,” Capricorn yelled after him as she lifted off the ground. “I wonder what that red stuff on his chest was? It couldn’t have been from running because he wasn’t sweating. Oh well,” she sighed as she put it out of her mind. Capricorn speed toward the mansion reveling in the freedom of flight.

Below Logan was thinking of a way to wash off the blood smeared on his body. “There is a stream around here, I can smell it,” he thought. The next minute his ears picked up the soft gurgling of the water as it fd ovd over rocks in the streambed. Logan angled toward the stream and dove in when he came to it. It was fairly deep for a stream, over three feet, and he tingled as the icy cold water of early spring in upper New York State flowed over his muscled body. Logan came back up to the surface and used sand to scrub his body and jeans. When all the blood Logan could visibly see was washed off, and feeling slightly refreshed, Logan climbed out of the stream and loped on toward the mansion.

“How am I going to explain this?” Logan growled as he ran. He was so distracted by trying to figure out an excuse that he almost missed a scent that he was very familiar with. Logan stopped and got into a fighting stance. Logan sniffed more of the air and popped his claws, preparing for battle. “Sabertooth,” Logan growled low, deep in his throat. The beast within sang out in giddy anticipation for the coming battle. Eyes dilated, nostrils flared, ears perked, Wolverine scanned the forest, looking for the slightest movement.

“Gotcha’ runt!” Sabertooth howled as he dropped towards Wolverine from above and behind. Wolverine, reacting quickly, dove and shoulder rolled to the right, coming up facing his attacker. “Creed, I’m gonna filet you bub,” Wolverine said. Sabertooth chuckled as they circled each other, looking for openings to attack. Wolverine saw one first and struck as fast as lighting to Sabertooth’s trailing left leg. Sabertooth’s left knee dislocated under the forceful blow from the sweep of Wolverine’s kick. As it instantly popped back into place and the howl of pain and rage from Sabertooth died out, Wolverine took his attack inside to the body. Foot long claws slashed at Sabertooth’s belly as he staggered backwards, trying to gain some distance from Wolverine.
Sabertooth stopped backing up and pounced forward onto Wolverine, his greater bulk toppling the smaller man down. They rolled, Wolverine’s adamantium coveredws aws and Sabertooth’s razor sharp nails slashing at each other’s bodies. Wounds opened, spilling blood and healing just as quick. This was a contest of stamina and will, both were good at this type of fighting, where attrition crowned the winner.

Sabertooth stabbed his hand into Wolverine’s stomach, producing a wail of pain from him. Wolverine stabbed his claws into Sabertooth’s shoulder. Sabertooth howled in pain as Wolverine sliced his claws toward Sabertooth’s neck, trying desperately to cut out the jugular vein to give him time to distance himself and let his healing factor take care of the belly wound. Sabertooth rolled off of Wolverine, his arm useless for the time being. Wolverine, his belly wound healing fast now that Sabertooth’s hand was not shoved up in it trying to reach his heart, was poring blood onto the ground as he got to his feet, readying for his next attack when a crimspticptic blast exploded at the feet of Sabertooth. He was thrown back against a giant pine tree with a sickening thud. He stood up with bones cracking and popping and bounded away yelling, “Another time runt!”

Logan now mostly healed, except for some internal bleeding, was angry. He turned on Cyclops and Storm as they landed beside him. Storm, slightly sweating from carrying Cyclops a full mile to reach the battle, asked, ”Are you okay Logan?” “I’m fine ‘Ro, but who the hell asked you to interfere?” Logan snarled back. The feral still thirsted for blood, from anyone if necessary. Logan, trying to force it down, back into its cage in his head, glared at them. “Settle down Logan, the Professor sensed Sabertooth and sent us to help,” Scott said, a little put off by the ungrateful Logan. Logan bared his teeth and stalked away saying, “I had it covered one eye.” Scott looked at Ororo, who shrugged and began to follow Logan back to the mansion. Scott, perturbed, followed suit. Ten minutes later the three of them walked through the front door of the mansion.

Logan, bloody once again, got stares of shock and awe from the kids. He snarled and growled, “Whatcha’ lookin’ at rug rats!?” Storm grabbed his arm and spun him around. “That was uncalled for Logan,” Logan gave off a low sinister growl before saying, “Get yer hands off’a me ‘Ro. I’m still itchin’ for a fight.” “Logan that is enough!” a voice said from behind. Logan turned from the stunned and slightly paler Ororo. “Chuck you got impeccable timin’. I was just about to go into a lecture on hand to hand combat, would you care to join in?” Logan said and growled, getting angrier every second. “Stop this nonsense Logan. Go wash up and calm down. Then come to my office, we’ll talk,” Xavier said calmly. “Whatever,” Logan said and stalked off toward the stairs, a path forming before him like Moses parting the Red Sea, as students old and new scurried out of the bloody man’s way.

“I hate that guy,” Scott swhenwhen Logan was out of a normal man’s earshot. “Fuck you One Eye!” Logan yelled back. “Logan! Language, there are children present!” Xavier sent telepathically. “What is his problem today,” Ororo asked as she regained more of her color. “There is something bothering him Ororo. Something big and we need to find out what it is, and help him through it,” Xavier said starting in the direction that Logan had gone. Scott huffed, disgusted, and said, “It seems to me like Logan nea paa pacifier.” “Scott that is insensitive, whatever Logan is going through is very dangerous to him…and possibly us. We need to help him through this,” Xavier reprimanded.

“Professor,” Jean said as she rounded a corner to where the others were standing. “I feel immense anger rolling off of Logan, what has happened?” she asked with a worried look on her face. Xavier glanced at Scott’s odd look and said, “He had an altercation with Sabertooth.” “What? On the grounds? How did he get here?” she said. “Don’t worry Jean,” Ororo said, “Rogue and Archangel are making sure he is off the grounds, and on his way back to wherever he goes when he isn’t making trouble.” “Was anyone hurt?” Jean asked. “Logan had a stomach wound, but his healing factor took care of it. It looked as if Sabertooth took the worst of it though,” Scott said, “he had three huge cuts through the shoulder and almost to the neck. He won’t be using his arm for a while.” Jean heaved a small sigh of relief. “Jean, Logan is washing up, when he is done would you bring him to my office calmly please?” Xavier asked. “I’ll do it,” Scott jumped in. The Professor gave Scott a look and said, “I don’t think so Scott after the exchange you two had a minute ago, the mansion would be dust. Jean is the perfect one to go, she is a neutral party right now.” Scott sighed and nodded. “Now, Scott, Ororo, if you would please follow me to my office, I have something to discuss with you until Jean and Logan arrive.”

Jean slowly walked to Logan’s door to give him some time to get dressed. The anger and sadness flowed at her from the room like a tidal wave. She heard snatches of his thoughts through the psylink “…kill him…Mariko…Jean…Jean…I lovu…” u…” she shook her head as she shut down the psylink. “That was way too personal,” she thought as she stood in front of the door.

There was a huge crash as she was about to knock on the door. He screamed in rage and pain. Jean burst through the door shouting “Logan are you okay…!?” she stopped in mid step when she saw what was inside. His bed, always messy, was over turned, and on top of it was the solid oak dresser. But what froze her in place was that Logan was completely nude. The stomach wound had completely healed except for a faint scar that was quickly disappearing.

She blushed and spun around. Logan laughed gruffly and grabbed a pair of boxer shorts and jeans and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door. “Sorry Red, I just got outa’ the shower,” he said through the door. Jean flushing at the memory of his naked and perfectly tanned muscular body, said, “It’s al…alright. I heard the crash right before I was going to knock on the door. I should have known you would be okay.” Logan stepped out of the bathroom looking for a shirt. “It’s okay to turn around now Red. Hell, it’s not like you haven’t seen it before,” he chuckled. Jean blushed anew at the truth. “Well at least he is in a better mood now,” Jean thought. She turned around and said, “The Professor wants us in his office when you are ready.” Logan, pulling on a black tee shirt, nodded and said, “Let’s go.” They walked out of the room closing the door behind them.

“Don’t worry Jean, I won’t tell Scott what’cha saw,” Logan said as they started down the stairs. “Any way,” Logan said, a playful smile growing on his face, “You are a doctor, and you have seen it befoJustJust under different circumstances.” Jean milled that comment over in her mind. “Your right Logan,” she said, “after all you were in a violent fight not an hour ago.” But deep down inside, Jean knew it was a lie, one that she told herself over and over again. She had enjoyed that small glimpse at Logan’s body. He was bigger than Scott all over. He was more heavily muscled and bigger boned. The only area where Scott was the larger man was in height, Jean thought blushing. “Why am I thinking these thoughts? I love Scott. Yes I’ve kissed Logan once or twice, but those were mistakes weren’t they?” she asked herself.

Logan, seeing her blush, and added to the fact that, unbeknownst to him, the psylink between them was ripe with his thoughts of her, and her embarrassment and guilt over her feelings. “Jean,” he said as they turned the last corner to Professor Xavier’s office, “don’t be embarrassed or guilty. You thought I was in trouble. And there is nothing to be guilty about, it was harmless.” “I wish it was harmless,” Jean thought as she nodded to him in agreement. “Thanks Logan, I don’t know what has come over me. Especially after this morning,” she said.

Logan’s face flashed a look of rage and immense pain at the memory. Jean, seeing and feeling the pain and angeroughough the psylink, took a step back. “I’m sorry Logan,” she said. “Don’t worry about it darlin’,” he replied. They stepped through the office door. Inside were Xavier, sitting at his desk, ever in his wheelchair. Remy Lebeau, Gambit, the empath, and could make anything an explosive device because of his power. Ororo Monroe, Storm, one of Logan’s closest friends. And for the time being, Scott Summers. Scott whispered something into Xavier’s ear, then turned to leave. As he passed a fuming Logan, who gave Scott a vicious look, one that stopped Scott’s planned return look dead in its tracks. Scott kissed Jean on the cheek and left the office, closing the door behind him.

“Logan please, have a seat,” Xavier said, pointing to an open chair in front of his desk. “’Ro, Jean, and the Cajun all in one meetin’ with no Scott? I take it this is not an ops briefing,” Logan said, his paranoia climbing a notch. Xavier smiled slightly, “Alas, Logan, it is not. I have asked them here so that we may help you out. Before you say that you don’t know what we are talking about, Jean felt your pain this morning, as did I, and in a slight way, so did Remy as well. You are in pain Logan. Terrible pain, and it is causing your control on your emotions, especially the anger that triggers the beserker rage to slip.” Xavier looked at his folder on his desk and then back up to Logan. “We all know what you have gone through recently, I myself am responsible for what happened on Asteroid M with Magneto, as well as the Onslaught situation.” Xavier’s depression from the burdens that those events poised were daunting, not to mention the sadness at the casualties that they caused.
Logan, ire rising at the intrusion of his privacy, could not deny the feeling of thanks for these people to care about him, but he could not open up to them. This was his burden to bear. “Sorry Chuck, don’t know what ya felt, but it wasn’t from me,” Logan lied. “Logan,” Jean said knowing the conflict within him, feeling his hesitation, “we want to help. It scarred me how intense the pain radiating off of you was. I almost fell down it hurt so bad.” Logan stared at her in disbelief. “How did she feel it?” he asked himself. “What about you Chuck, could you feel the pain?” Logan asked not taking his eyes off of Jean. “Yes Logan, but only slightly. I knew you were in discomfort, but I did not know how much. What did you feel Remy?” asked Xavier.

“Mon Dieu, all Remy felt was Logan and sometin’ wrong. Mostly Remy feel, La Ma Petite, Jean. She suffer terrible pain, but none her own,” Remy said. His friends suffering burned through the smart-ass persona that was his shield to the world. “Remy t’ink Logan got problems, dat we need to help him resolve ‘for de pain kill ‘em. And de Chere,” Remy said knowingly of the shared attraction, even as well hidden as it was, between them. Remy knew what they were going through, hell he and Rogue were still going through it.

Logan began to stand up and leave when Ororo spoke. “Logan,” she said, ”please, we care about you. All we want to do is help, we don’t want to see you hurt or suffering. That is what is happening.” Logan, muscles tensed, said, “I can work this out myself. It’s nothing, just like what happened before.” Xavier nodded and said, “Remy, Orroro, I think we can take this from here.” Remy and Ororo nodded. Ororo put her hand on Logan’s shoulder and said, “If you need us, you know where to find us.” “We Mon Ami, Remy help you, dat fer sure. You help Remy plenty of times,” Remy added. Logan nodded his thanks as they as they left.

“Now Logan,” the Professor said, “It is just you, Jean, and me. You can speak freely. All we are here for is to help you. What is troubling you so?” Before Logan could reply the psylink between him and Jean busted wide open. Flashes of his past, of the experimentation on him during the Weapon X program, the death of Silver Fox, the betrayal of Yurico, Lady Deathstrike, and the most painful memory of all, the admantium being ripped out of his body, pore by pore, combined with…something that Jean felt herself. But what? All of this flashed by in milliseconds. Logan, the pain from the flashback causing him to rip the armrests off of the wooden chair he was sitting in, was on his hands and knees panting from pain.

Jean, sharing the pain that he felt on a slightly smaller scale, was holding her head and tears streamed from her eyes. “Jean, Logan, are you two alright?” Xavier asked worriedly, his wheelchair coming around the desk. “How very interesting. But this will not do, we need to stop this before one or both are dead,” he thought. Xavier only felt a pinprick of the massive pain that had temporarily crippled Logan and Jean. For even that pinprick to get through his mental shields meant that whatever the pain was, was astronomical in intensity.

Jean was the first to recover. “They’re getting worse,“ Jean whispered. “I’m…I’m alright Professor. I think. Oh my head hurts,” she said as she closed her eyes. Then she remembered Logan. “Logan are you okay?” she asked gently putting her hand on his shoulder. “Just give me a second,” Logan replied, sweat dripping from his brow. “That was one of the worst ones yet,” he thought. Slowly he got up and took another seat, the one beside Jean. “Jean tell me what happened exactly,” Xavier said. “I’ll try,” Jean replied, still a little shaken. “First there was just outright pain. Then the flashes started. Logan would you rather tell him?” she asked. Logan shook his head and said, “No you go ahead darlin’. Tell ‘em.”

Jean nodded, looking at her lap, “First there was a finely decorated room with two men and a woman in it. One man was shot by the other man. Then it flashed again and the second man was dead as well with…” Jean glanced at Logan who’s brow was furrowed with thought. She looked at Xavier who said, ”Please continue Jean. If we are going to help Logan to figure this out, then we need all the information we can get. Don’t you agree Logan?” Logan looked up as if lost in the memory and said, “Ya,” in a gravelly voice. Jean nodded and continued, “The second man had slash marks all over his body. Slashes like Logan’s claws.” She looked down at her lap. Logan nodded and said, “I’ve killed a lot of people in my time so that could be anyone. But the woman did look familiar, as did the man that was shot.” Jean looked at Logan, seeing the sorrow and pain in his face.

“Jean, go on,” Xavier pushed. “Well, um… there was another flash and there were woods, a forest, then the inside of a laboratory… I think it was the Weapon X Program that you told us about Logan,” she said. Logan growled and said, “It was. That was where they put the admantium into me. I can remember it now. Did you see the tub Jean?" She nodded and he continued, “That was what they put me in. I remember needles and pain, excruciating pain. It was unending,” he said as he clutched his chest, his claws involuntarily popping out of his hands with a snikt. He sheathed them the next instant. “Alright Jeanie what did we see next? They are all jumbled up in my head until you straighten them out,” he said pleadingly into her eyes.

“The last thing I…we saw was the day on Asteroid M,” she said. Logan was able to force down the pain of the memory slightly, but his whole body ached with it. Jean felt the ache of that unforgottey hey herself, and again she felt the hidden pain that she couldn’t quite put a finger on. It was familiar to her. It felt like it was something that she felt herself, but did not know what it was. She was confused, but there was something so personal about it that she chose not tell the Professor about it.

Of that she would discuss with Logan later, on their own. Xavier could tell that she was holding something back, as was Logan, but he thought that it had something to do with the psylink. What ever it was, it was quite personal. “Now, the pain that hits you only comes from the memory of your admantium being pulled out of your body by Magneto, correct?” Xavier asked. Logan shifted, “Well the worst of it does Chuckers, but the pain is present through all of the memories.” Xavier nodded. “Logan, I would like for you to undergo some tests. Is that alright?” Xavier asked. Logan thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. “Good, maybe they will shed some more light on this situation. Jean would you please perform the tests?” Xavier said. “Of course Professor,” she replied. “Would you like Hank to assist?” Charles asked. “No, that is not necessary.” Jean replied the doctor in her coming out. “If I need help I’ll call. Logan, let’s head down to the infirmary and get started” Logan nodded and stood up. He turned back to Xavier and said, “Thank you Charles.” Xavier nodded and smiled, “Don’t worry Logan, we’ll find out what is wrong.” And with that Logan and Jean turned and left the office, closing the door behind them.

Scott watched Jean and Logan close the Professor’s door. “Jean, can I speak to you for a minute?” he asked. Logan glanced over at Scott and his lip curled up slightly. Jean turned to Logan and said, “Logan would you please go down to the infirmary ahead of me? I’ll be down in a minute, after I talk to Scott, okay?” Logan looked at her and after a second nodded. As Logan turned to go to the elevator he popped a single middle claw in Scott’s sight, but blocked from Jean’s view. Scott noticed the claw and, jaws clenched, crossed his arms in anger. Jean felt the rage and anger radiating off of both men like the heat off of a burning flame. She sighed heavily as she stood in front of Scott. “What did you need to see me about Scott? I need to run some tests on Logan,” she said.

Scott looked at her through his ruby quartz sunglasses and fought the rising jealousy that had been ever present since Wolverine had joined the team. “She is my girl,” repeated through his brain when Logan was in the room with them. He made sure his voice was steady and devoid of anger when he asked, “So what’s up with the wild man loner? Is he just crazy like I always thought, or is someone or something influencing his murderous behavior?” Jean gave him an angry stare. “Scott that is the most uncaring thing I think you have ever heard you say. Logan is not crazy, he is just going through soard ard times lately, and you know that. You should show some concern for a teammate at least,” she reprimanded.

“I am thinking of the team. He is our best fighter, and I just wanted to know his fitness report!” Scott shot back, half-lying through his teeth. “Well Cyclops, Wolverine’s fit. rep. Will be on your desk ASAP sir. Request permission to examine the patient,” she said, standing at attention, eyes starring at the wall behind Scott’s head. “Whatever Jean, I just…” Scott began, but Jean had nodded and was walking away. “Well talk later Scott,” she said as she stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the second underground level where the infirmary was located.

The elevator dinged as it reached the requested level. Jean stepped out and headed for the infirmary. As she entered she grabbed her lab coat off of her chair. She turned into the exam room and hesitated as she entered. Logan stood with his shirt and pants off once more starring at an X-ray, still clad in his boxers, “thankfully,” she thought. She once again noticed that he was more heavily muscled and bigger than Scott, “No,” she thought, “bigger than every one except for Hank and Piotr.” The X-rays he was looking at were from one of the students who fell out of a tree he had teleported to. “Pop-Up” as he called himself, was a new student just beginning to learn about his powers. He fell out of a tree when he had popped in on an eagle’s nest, and panicked forgetting to teleport back to the ground, and had landed on his shoulder. “Broken clavicle, Red. Two places, how far was the drop?” Logan asked.

Jean smiled at his correct diagnosis. “Thirteen feet,” she said. Logan nodded and said, “He was lucky it’ll heal in six to eight weeks.” “You should have been a doctor Logan,” Jean said with admiration, standing next to him. Logan looked down and ran through some of his most memorable injuries. He shook his head at the pain of them and said, “It’s not knowledge I learned from readin’ Jean, I learned it through haven’ them done to me.” Jean, feeling his pain, and through him and the psylink, reliving every injury, said, “It’s kind of morbid for me to say but, you have more practical knowledge of the human body than I do.” Logan smiled weakly, feeling no humor at the comment and said, “Should we get this over with?” “Sure,” she said, letting him change the subject, it was painful to her too. She cared for him a great deal and hated feeling the constant pain he was in. If only she had met him first, something said in the back of her mind. Jean frowned at the thought. “Why did I think that?” she asked herself.

“Lay down please. I’m going to put a brain wave monitor on you, along with a heart rate monitor,” Jean said as she pulled the devices out of the technical area. She walked back to where he was lying on the hospital bed, and began attaching electrodes. The heart monitor was attached to his chest, next the brain wave monitors were attached to the specific places on the skull. Logan watched her every move, unable to turn away. He admired her fluid and, unbeknownst to her, sensual movements. He loved the way she moved, direct and to the point, yet they were graceful. “Like the fox she is,” he thought.

Jean moved over to the Beta Wave Analyzer and turned it on. “Just relax Logan, nothing is going to hurt,” shed lod looking back at his face and heavily muscled chest. She blushed, a little ashamed at her thoughts. “Geez,” she thought, “I’m acting like a schoolgirl, and what about Scott? Scott is my husband, but he is always so busy, we all are really.” She looked back at the analyzer, pushing all thoughts out of her mind as the doctor in her took control.

The reading of Logan’s beta waves were jumping up and down like a stereo equalizer during a death metal guitar solo. Logan’s beta waves were in a hyperactive state and the intensity of the activity was growing every second. Both Logan and Jean felt the crippling pain coming at the same time. Logan began to howl at the pain, while Jean, who had fallen to her knees, slammed the psylink shut to try to stop or at least lessen the pain she was feeling. However, just the intensity of the pain radiating off of Logan was enough to make her scream, not mention the pain that was seeping through the cracks in the door that she had closed on the psylink.

Logan shot up off of the hospital bed with his hands clutching his head. He howled in rage and pain as his head felt like it was going to explode. Logan tried to run but could not see through the red and black haze that covered his sight. He smacked headlong into a wall and fell to the floor. Jean, almost incapacitated with searing pain, tried to crawl to Logan, but she only made it few feet before she passed out from the pain. Logan was not so lucky. He thrashed and rolled on the floor like a man on fire. His howl grew into a soul-shattering scream that Banshee would have appreciated. He could not think, all logical thought could understand was pain. Then with a suddenness all was blank.
Logan was awake, he had never passed out, but his higher brain functions were stuck in a hazy mist in the back of his mind. They were still aware of what was happening but had no control over its actions. The man known as Logan could see out, could hear, but could not fathom what was happening. He was moving then, without his control. His body, slouched over like a caveman, tried to walk and stumbled.

The feral, animalistic part of him had taken over. It saw a cage with him in it, weird things all around. It sniffed the air. The air was stale, not fresh like the wilderness. One thing did catch its attention. The female. It sniffed again and looked at the ground where she lay. Was the female dead? No, there was no decay of dead meat in its scent, no scent of wounds, nor blood either. It moved over to Jean’s prone form and inhaled deeply, Yes this is the female that man had wanted so long. With fingers that felt swollen the feral touched Jean’s auburn hair. Then it caressed her face, feeling the smoothness of her skin. The feral wanted to live with the female, to have her bear his young. He nudged her with the back of his hand, but she did not move. He nudged her again with the same result. The feral sniffed again at her and noticed a few more smells, familiar, but also strange to him. His sensitive hearing picked up running feet of various sizes. It panicked, caged, and to him, being attacked. He took one last look at the female… “No,” it thought, “MY female.”

It popped his claws and the feral that was Logan got into a fighting crouch, all forms of technical fighting having been forgotten. It knew these smells so it decided not to kill unless it had to, all it really wanted was to escape. It would run into the wilderness until it could come back to claim his female. The feral growled loudly as the smells and sounds of the attackers neared the closed door of the infirmary. As the door opened one of the familiar scents with brown hair and red eyes that were outside of its head, yelled, “Jean!!” The feral pounced as Scott, Remy, and Ororo ran into the infirmary. He bowled over Scott, kicking him in the face and chest with powerful legs, growling dangerously the whole way. Scott grunted in pain as the air left his lungs.

The feral swung on Storm, “another female,” its primitive mind thought as he bounded at her. She was attacking him he thought as he landed near her. Storm raised her hand and blew a gust of win at Logan before he could make contact with her. “Logan stop!” she screamed at him as he was lifted off of the ground and flung into a wall of equipment fifteen feet away. On impact, with sparks showering him, he fell to the floor his feral rage soaring. Gambit ran in close, clutching a handful of his playing cards, charging them up with just enough explosive energy to knock Logan back again if need be. "Mon ami, dis is not de danger room. W’at ‘appen to you to make you attack Jean an us?” he asked.

The feral listened to the strange but familiar words as he got up. He dove at Gambit, taking him by surprise. The feral tackled him and kneed him in the face, bloodying his nose and knocking him out cold. The feral felt the gust of wind building again from the dark female who was standing in front of the recovering red-bug eyes. The feral heaved the unconscious Remy up and flung him at the female with the wind and white hair. Ororo Munroe had no chance of dodging, even a gust of wind could stop the body of Remy flying at her. Remy’s body slammed into her with the force of a truck. Their bodies entwined slammed into Scott as he was standing up. The three of them flew back from the force of the blow and slammed into the wall. Scott and Ororo joined Remy in unconsciousness, and they all fell to the floor.

The feral felt an odd feeling of remorse and an urge not to kill them, their familiar scents reaching all the way to the man now buried deep in the conscious of the feral. The feral shuffled back to fire hared female, taking in her scent, “I’ll take her with me,” the primitive brain thought. Just then alarms sounded and the feral picked up more familiar scents. He sniffed her one last time and ran off, bounding down the hall to an opening. As it skidded to a stop in the elevator, it thought it was another wall. He turned as footsteps drew closer, and bumped a button as Bobby Drake, Rogue, and Hank McCoy came into view of the elevator. All their scents familiar, but their actions rang out “attacking.”

His claws unsheathed themselves, the feral wanting the blue animal that was much like himself first. As it started to stalk out of the elevator, the doors closed on him. The feral felt trapped again and howled in rage. Bobby looked at Hank and said, ”Where is he going?” “I don’t know my young lad, but the bigger question is why was getting ready to attack us?”
In the elevator the feral slashed the doors open, but the elevator was still moving and there was no opening where there had once been one. This perplexed the feral, he was expecting an opening to the white halls and the three familiar things that there was before the cage shut. Suddenly the elevator stopped and the outer doors opened to the ground level. Wood paneling and marble floors surrounded him. The feral sniffed the air and stepped gingerly out of the elevator. “The woods where near!” it thought as rich wood air, not the stale recycled air in the other place reached him. Then he picked up more running footsteps. The feral growled and ran looking for a place to escape through when down a side hall came Sam Guthrie, Cannonball, the newest X-man, ran into him. Again the feral wondered why all of these familiar people kept attacking him. It punched the stunned Cannonball in the face and threw him into one of the wood grain walls. Sam grunted loudly as the air fled his lungs.

Piotr Raspiuten heard the body of Sam slam into the wall and ran toward the sound, his metal exoskeleton armor that was his mutation, formed over his already massive bulk. “Logan, my friend, what are you doing?” Piotr yelled coming to the scene. The feral recognized this mountain of a man too and growled a warning. Colossus took a step forward and was met with the sound of Logan’s admantium claws extending from the top of his hands. Piotr hesitated, wondering what had happened to one of his best friends. “I have to stop you, comrade, so that we find out what has happened to make you like this,” Piotr said to the feral. Colossus lunged at the feral, but the feral was quick. It sidestepped the lunged and slashed at Colossus’s arm with a glancing blow, as the admantium did not cut through. Colossus, shocked at the very real slash from Wolverine, began to circle him.

The feral looked for an opening in the big shiny man’s stance. It noticed that a window was a few feet behind the metal man and stopped his own circle. Colossus readied for an attack he knew was sure to come. The feral fainted low and Colossus took the bait while the feral bounded up high. It struck Colossus in the shoulder, its three claws cut through the metal armor of the giant Russian. The stab wounds weren’t bad but they hurt. Colossus screamed as his hand came to his shoulder as the feral pushed off of his back toward the glass window with the sound of many footsteps coming after her. The feral dove through the window and rolled through the landing. It stood up and ran full speed to the woods, and gonegone.

Professor Xavier looked out the shattered window as Dr. McCoy looked at Colossus’s shoulder wound. Sadness and despair washed over Xavier as he looked down. “How could this happen?” Xavier thought. He turned his chair to McCoy and asked, “How are they?” Hank looked up from Colossus, “Piotr’s got a minor shoulder stabbing, it’ll hurt…” “…I’ll say,” Colossus interrupted. “But it’ll heal fast. Sam is just winded with a bruised chest and face. Remy was knocked out, ink ink he has a concussion, Orroro and Scott are fine, but Scott has some bruised, possibly cracked ribs. He’ll be down for a while.”

Xavier nodded sadly “And Jean?” he asked. McCoy looked at Xavier and said, “I don’t know. There are no physical wounds or bruises but she is out cold.” “As I expected,” Xavier said, “he did not hurt her, but I think what ever made Logan go feral like this, knocked her out. Hank, please keep me informed. I’m going to try and figure out what to do.” Xavier turned back to his office and was off. McCoy picked Colossus off of the floor and led him to the slashed elevator. “What happened to Logan, Hank?” Colossus grunted in pain. “I don’t know Piotr. I don’t know.” They entered the elevator and went to the destroyed infirmary where Hank began to clean the cuts and tend to the other wounded.

She sniffed the air and smelled wilderness, freedom. She smelled the trees; pine, oak, and poplar. She smelled dear, turkey, and the stench of skunk. She looked around and she was running, the air of the woods churning in and out of her lungs. The feeling was exhilarating. She heard woodpeckers, owls, finches, and doves. What was she running through the woods for? How did she get out of the infirmary? Logan! The realization hit her like ice water. “I’m not running through the woods, Logan is!” she thought. She was seeing what he was. But how? She tried reaching him but all that came back were the primitive urges to eat, and run. But something touched her mind, the thought of her to him. He thought of her constantly, and that though was that she belonged to him. It was so pure and primitive that she would have blushed if she were conscious.

Jean reached out to Logan again, and she felt a tiny tug of his normal self but it was drowned out by the need to feed on flesh. Suddenly there was someone else there. “Jean, listen to me. Wake up.” The voice was familiar and it drew her, but she liked the feeling of freedom and running through the forest on a primitive level. “Jean, wake up. Use my voice as a beacon.” It was the Professor! “Professor…how?” she asked, half of her was wanting to stay in the mind of the feral Logan. “Concentrate Jean. Follow my voice to the surface and open your eyes,” he directed. She followed him and thought of opening her eyes. To her surprise she did and saw the Professor and Hank hovering over her. “What happened?” she asked. “Where’s Logan?” “Well,” the Professor began, “we were hopping you could help us out as far as what happened before you passed out.”

Jean looked at them and said, “I was taking heart and Beta wave readings. The Beta waves were insanely high and were increasing in number when the pain hit us. But this time it wasn’t a flash. I lasted at least a minute before the pain made me pass out. Logan was in more pain than I was, I had closed the psy…I mean my mind to him, but it came through anyway. Logan was howling and thrashing from it,” she said sadly. “I know Jean, we heard it on the main floor,” he replied. Jean’s eyes grew wide as Xavier told her of the events of Logan’s escape. “You mean he knocked out Scott, Orroro, and Remy, then put down Sam, and stabbed an armored Piotr?” she asked. Xavier nodded and looked into his lap. “Well,” Jean said, “at least he is in some control.” Xavier looked at her questioningly, “Please explain.”

Jean smiled a little smile, “He did not kill us all. So some part of him still recognizes us, but he was scared and defended himself from perceived attackers. Plus before you woke me up I was in his mind.” Xavier, mouth agape, asked Hank for some privacy, then turned to Jean and asked, “In his mind? How?” “I don’t know but it was like I was him. I could smell, hear, and feel everything that he did. And in a tiny part of his mind I felt Logan. Right now the beast part of him is in control, but it is more intense, like it had gone feral.” “Well, you rest and in the morning we will come up with a plan as to what to do. Logan can take care of himself tonight, but I am going to turn the security system on incase he comes back. I hope you are alright.” Jean sighed sadly and nodded. “And Jean, we will talk of the psylink later. Try to rest,” Xavier said as he left the room.

Scott in the next hospital bed awoke as Xavier left the infirmary. He turned painfully to Jean and said, “Logan’s lost it this time Jean. I knew he was crazy, I just knew it. I told the Professor that he shouldn’t have been on this team.” Jean looked at him with a shocked expression. “Scott, what is wrong with you? He is not crazy, something has happened to him that he could not control. And as far as being on this team, he plays a very important part. We could not have survived some of the things we have gone through if Logan wasn’t there to save us.” Scott snorted and said, “Jean, the man was a wild card from day one. I’m sorry this has happened, but I think he was a ticking time bomb.” “Scott,” Jean said numbly, “you are so uncaring that I can’t believe you. The man needs our help. All of our help. He is suffering, I can feel it. So much pain and torture…” Jean had tears rolling out of her eyes. “What about Piotr Jean? The man stabbed him in the shoulder, he suffered too, as do I with broken ribs?”

Jean wiped tears from her eyes. “Scott if Logan wanted to kill Piotr, he would have. There is still a little control left. We just needed to put the feral back under control.” Scott gazed at her and said, “Jean you know I respect the man but, my recommendation to the Professor will be to implement the Xavier File on Logan.” Jean was stunned. She sat up and crossed the room to his bed. “Scott you can’t be serious, how dare you just write off one of the best men any of us have ever known? Yes he does have an attitude, a temper, and can be frustrating as hell, but you don’t just kill a man because something makes him lose control for a while!” she said almost on the verge of hysteria. Jean, with a wild look growing in her eyes, said, “Have you forgotten how many times Logan has saved you…saved us all? This time we need to be the ones to save him.”

Scott, lips pressed into an angry line, thought for a moment and said, “I remember how he has saved us all. And that is why I will stop him before he kills us. That would be the worst thing that could happen to him.” Jean reeled back from Scott, feeling sick. “He planned on killing Logan,” she thought. Scott was nothing like what she thought he was. Scott had accused Logan of being a cold-hearted killer. Yet here was Scott ready and willing to murder a teammate of many years just because a primal personality had taken over his mind. She knew that if she just had the chance she could free Logan and bring him back. She saw the coldness in his eyes and thought, “Did he want to kill me when the Phoenix Entity had control of my body? It had killed worlds, eradicated peoples throughout the galaxy. If it happened again would he kill me then?” Jean decided that this was not the man she had married. This man was cold and vindictive, and, as she thought back through their relationship, had always been. “How could I not have seen it? Was the man I thought I married ever there? Love must blind all,” she thought with tears running down her face.

Then all of a sudden she was doing something that she thought she would never do. Jean was taking off her wedding ring. “What are you doing Jean?” Scott asked with a worried look on his face. “Scott,” she whispered in a grief-ridden voice, “you are not the man I thought you were. You are cold and heartless. You would have thrown away a life because it doesn’t follow your plan. I can’t stay with you like that.” “What are you saying?” he questioned with not even a wink of emotion on his face. He was trying to get up through the pain in his ribs, but Jean held him down with her telekinesis and said, “I’m saying that I want a divorce Scott.” She put the ring down on his bed and turned, tears streaming from her eyes, and ran from the infirmary with Scott, still unable to move, calling after her.

Jean ran to Professor Xavier’s office, she already knew where he was thanks to her telepathic mind sweep. Xavier felt her agony, and Scott’s anger, at himself, Logan, and Jean. Xavier was pretty sure what had transpired. Seconds later Jean burst into his office tears streaming down her face. “What is wrong Jean?” he asked, deciding it was better for her to tell him of her own accord. “Scott wants to kill Logan. Just like that. He is just so cold blooded. Our friend and teammate is in need of help and he just wants to kill him like he’s a stranger,” she wept into his shoulder. Xavier said, “Jean it may still come to that.” Jean looked at him in terror, “I know but Scott doesn’t even want to give Logan a chance. I know that the beast inside of Logan has him trapped. I felt him. We just have to break the trap.”

“So what happened as a result of Scott’s views?” Xavier pressed. Jean looked down, tears still flowing and said, “I’m divorcing him.” Xavier was shocked, “Why Jean?” “He is not the man I married, I think that man never existed.” Xavier, saddened, said, “Jean if you feel that this is the right thing to do then you should do it, but please at the very least, keep a working relationship with him. And be assured that we will get Logan back and continue on our crusade for peace between humans and mutants.” Jean sniffed and smiled at Xavier. They would get Logan back soon and Jean’s broken heart began to mend at the thought.

The feral was exhilarated with the freedom it found in the forest around the Xavier Institute. It ran ad thd the property for miles, all day and through the night. Then hunger overruled the need to run, and he began the hunt. While the primitive, feral mind that had overtaken his body worked to sustain its hunger. Logan trapped inside but aware of everything that was happening, was howling in rage. He had fought the feral when the others came to stop him. But the feral was too powerful for him alone, and yet Logan did accomplish stopping the feral from killing what it thought of as treacherous attackers.

The feral would have killed Piotr if not for Logan’s true mind stopping it. The feral had wanted to rip the “shiny man’s” throat out but Logan thought the shoulder. Thanks to the training that Xavier and Jean had tried to teach him, the feral had listened. Logan thought of Jean, crumpled on the floor. He could feel her pain then,, the same pain he was in but a little less intense. But he still felt her. She was sad, very sad. Then he felt shock radiate off of her in waves. Logan figured that they were probably showing her a tape of what his body had done to the others during his escape.

No wait…not just his body, him. The feral was a part of him that he didn’t know was there. It was worse than the beserker inside. But the beserker was afraid of the feral, and they had formed an alliance of the mind. The shock he felt from Jean turned into horror and sadness. “Well,” Logan thought in the cage of his mind, “I have no chance with Red now.” He began to feel depressed and wanted to give in to the feral, just give up. He felt the same feeling radiate out of Jean through the psylink, but he didn’t know that.

Then as suddenly as a light turning on, he felt Jean’s voice reassuring him like always, “It’ll be ok Logan. We’ll bring you back,” she felt just like she always did. He wished she were here to really tell him those things. The confidence he felt growing him made him take heart. “They wouldn’t abandon me or hunt me down and kill me,” he thought.

But something different was tangled with her thoughts, he felt the confidence flooding into his thoughts, but also he somehow felt a small since of freedom and…what? Love? What was going on? Jean was married to that prick Scott, at most she was attracted to him. But he felt denial, she did love him, it was just that Scott was the only guy she ever knew. Then Logan felt that that was over now. He didn’t understand where these thou wer were coming from. Maybe it was another attack for total control over his mind.

Pain overwhelmed him then as the feral mind snapped at its captive. It was in control. The conscious feral was hunting. It was hungry. Food was all it thought of as it tracked its prey. But this prey was no deer. The feral wanted to feast to its’ freedom before claiming its’ female. The fire eyed man’s scent had been on her in the white cage. He had wanted to kill that familiar thing for touching his female, but something in the back of its’ mind had stopped him. Then it had stopped him from killing the shiny man.

Why had all of these familiar creatures captured him and then attacked him? The feral snapped at the thing that had stayed his hand. It was in control. But enough of the strange things, it wanted food. The food it wanted was dangerous, it knew.

The bear was new to the grounds. It had crossed the river a week before, expanding its’ territory. It was the biggest black bear in the area and had claimed many new territories. But it shouldn’t have tried to claim this one as his. The feral smelled the oiliness of the black bear on the trees, where the bears claw marks were, claiming them as his. The feral read the challenge and unsheathed his claws. In one swipe the tree was felled and the feral was back on the hunt, following the smell of the bear. The river’s sound grew louder and louder until the tall trees of the forest gave way to the shrubs and bushes of the riverbank.

The feral peered through the bushes to the riverbank. There on the bank was the black bear, fishing for trout. The feral’s eyes narrowed and a snarl left his throat. It stepped trough the bushes and roared his challenge to the bear. The startled bear swung around and reared up to its full nine-foot height. The bear roared his answer and came at the feral still on its’ hind legs. Claws unsheathed, the feral ran at the bear head on. The bear slashed at the feral with razor sharp claws, not unlike Sabertooth’s own. The swipe from the bear would have taken off the feral Logan’s arm if not for the unbreakable admantium covered skeleton.

The feral grunted in pain, as the healing factor kicked in. He slashed at the bear’s paw, and in one sickening slice it was separated from the bear’s body. The bear roared in pain and rage then swatted at the feral again. The feral dodged the swipe and got inside the bear’s guard. He stabbed his claws into the bears stomach and sliced upward to its’ neck, effectively gutting the black bear. It died instantly when the feral’s claws sliced its’ heart into three pieces. The bear’s body collapsed to the left as the feral Logan jumped to the right. He licked the blood off of his claws and put a foot on the bear’s huge head. The feral howled at the sky in triumph with a howl that was so loud that it startled thousands of birds in the process. The howl of victory even reached the mansion, where all were scarred except one.