He trailed his path from previous night through thicket until he found the shredded carcass of the deer. He almost managed to lie to himself that animals, probably a bear or pack of wolves had been there after he left. He hadn’t left it torn in half, sticky entrails hanging from surrounding trees and bushes. He hadn’t. Really.
*Keep lying, buddy. You’re getting pretty damn good at it…* He huffed. Grim task waited. He would have to move the carcass further from the cave before it really drew unwanted attention. He had no intentions to challenge any beast, natural or supernatural, over this lot of land. All he wanted and needed right now was a place to settle in and decide what to do next.
He managed to sniff out a fox cave not too close of his own. He dragged the carcass in front of it. He could smell fox inside. Several of them. Mother and cubs.
*Dinner is served. Don’t choke on it.*
He waited next to the carcass for a moment. Small head, covered in brown fur appeared to the entrance of the cave. Mother. Small, needle sharp teeth bared, high-pitched wailing murmur rolling from its throat. He could smell hot urine. Fox was scared out of its wits. Yet it kept up a brave façade, challenging him. He retreated, and watched from the distance when fox, after long careful moment came out. It approached the carcass, small, delicate snout wiggling, and collecting scents. Instead of digging in to offered meat it urinated on it before dusting it with generous amount of sand and retreating back in to the cave.
*Okay… Does that mean we can’t be friends?* He murmured scratching the back of his head. He had known that most of animals feared him, but he had thought that applied only to game, not predators. Well, he had more pressing issues right now than the state of the neighborhood. He had to find something to do.
He hadn’t even realized how boring life could really be. With Marie he had had always somebody to talk to. Somebody to do things with. Now, alone, it was hard to keep himself occupied. He couldn’t very well find the nearest tavern and drown his sorrows to beer. He couldn’t find an understanding ear to whom to pour out his heart. All he had were himself and his two hands. And entirely too many thoughts running through his mind. All of them about Marie. Where she was? Was she alright? Was she happy and satisfied now? Had she already found what she was looking for? Or was she in trouble? Lying in some ditch, torn and beaten because he hadn’t been there to fend off attackers?
*You are one sick fucker… Stop thinking about it,* he grunted when image of her, clothes torn and bloodied, face distorted and broken floated to his mind. If he kept thinking about her, nothing would keep him here. If he kept thinking about her, the urge to go to see if she was okay would grow until he had no choice but to hunt her down and latch on to her like eel.
*Of course she’s alright. I taught her. Taught her to be tough. How to survive. And she knew a lot to start with. She’s okay…*
She was okay. She had to be. Because he wasn’t. Silence around him, lack of her scent and sound of her voice was eating him alive. Like small, sharp-toothed animal gnawing at the pit of his stomach. For the past year she had been the one constant, the anchor keeping his base urges and instincts at bay. He had reveled in the power wolf had left in him. He had been able to do it because she had been there, reminding him constantly to which side he belonged. Now there was nobody to pull him back if he fell. Nobody to guide him through the darkness to the light. Nobody but himself.
He sat heavily in front of his cave and leaned his back to the rock wall. It was warm, facing the sun for the most part of the day. He lowered the hood of his cloak carefully, squinting his eyes against the brightness of the day. Small breeze ruffled the peaks of his ears. Almost like a touch. Just almost. He snapped his jaws, taking a bite from the invisible caress, suddenly angry and annoyed, and pulled the hood back on.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000