It looked like Wolverine was gone for good. Logan was stuck in the wolf form, but he claimed he couldn’t hear or feel the actual wolf in him. Marie had no choice but to believe him. At least it made traveling safer. She had her own supernatural guardian with her. Settling down was completely another issue.
“Five, six… Ten. Thank you. Glad to do business with you, my good sir,” she said smiling after counting her wage. Man, traveling salesman nodded and entered to town through ornate gate. She stared after him longingly. She could practically feel the soft bed under her back. Taste spicy meat in her mouth. Soap and washbasin to scrub off the accumulated muck and grime, maybe few pints of beer before turning in for the night…
*He paid for you?* Silent whisper, more of a low growl came from the bushes beside her. She sighed and shrugged out of her daydream.
“He paid alright. Ten silver as we agreed,” she said.
*Good.*
They were offering their services to travelers. She would approach them, and try to strike a deal. She would keep them safe and guarded through any territory they chose. Usually they laughed. Usually they stopped laughing when she pointed towards her shadowed companion lurking hidden in some corner. Logan covered himself with a thick, billowy cloak to hide his true form, but it did nothing to cover his height and stature.
“That’s a fucking ogre!” Was the usual comment. Her usual answer was laughter, accompanied with an explanation that Logan wasn’t in fact an ogre; he was just her husband, grown to great proportions by some quirk of Mother Nature.
They had been doing it nearly a year now, and truth to be told she was getting sick and tired of it. Sick and tired of being filthy and tired all the time. Sick and tired of eating game. Sick and tired of sleeping outside on the ground, or if she got lucky, in some abandoned shed.
And she was sick and tired of the lack of love and intimacy between them. She loved him. She was quite sure that he still cared about her, maybe even loved her. But ever since he had gotten stuck in the wolf form he had adamantly refused any kind of intimacy between them. She missed it. Closeness. Lovemaking. And most of all just cuddling against him at the end of the day. Even that he denied from her with no explanation.
“I was thinking…” She started. Logan snorted and threw a branch to their campfire, sending a swarm of sparks up in the sky.
“What?” She asked.
*Stop that. You know we can’t go in to town.*
“I know that. We can’t. But I can. I could go there and get some supplies…”
*Supplies? We have food. We have clothes. We have weapons. What more do we need?* Logan asked.
“What more? Logan! For once I would like to eat something else than burned or nearly raw meat! For once I would like to wash myself with soap! For once I would like to feel myself woman instead of… Instead of… Oh, Goddess… There are things I need!” She shouted. Logan narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.
*Things you need?*
“I’m cold and wet all the time! I reek! I want to get clean and get some new clothes! I want to eat something I haven’t had the pleasure to gut and prepare by myself! I want to see people, talk with them!”
*You see people every day. You talk with people every day. I hunt and cook. And you don’t reek. Trust me, I’d notice,* Logan purred. Tone of his voice was still conversational, but the set of his jaws told her it could change very quickly. But this was something she couldn’t just drop. Not anymore. She braced herself for the inevitable.
“I’m tired of this. I want a real life. Real home. Real friends. Real man.”
Logan just sat there, staring at the flickering flames. Minutes stretched, until he rose and walked to where they had left their bags and Marie’s horse. He had discarded the cloak he wore earlier. Now he picked it up and pulled it over his head. Put on boots he had made to hide his hind paws.
“What are you doing?” Marie asked when he slung the scabbard and the sword sheathed to it over his shoulder and secured them to his backside.
*I’m leaving.*
“Wait, we have to put out the fire and…”
*I’m leaving. You can do what the hell ever it is you want to do,* Logan spat, shouldering his knapsack.
*You can keep the silver. I have no use for it anyway…* He said and walked in to the woods, leaving her alone and stunned.
“Stupid. Stupid, stubborn bastard…” She hadn’t meant to drive him away.
“Why the hell this all has to be so hard?” She had only meant to shake him up a bit, to make him realize that there were certain issues that needed to be taken care of, rather sooner than later. And what had he done?
“Run! I don’t need you anyway!” She shouted. Tears stung in her eyes, but she refused to cry. He would come to his senses eventually. He would come back and they could talk. Have a good and long conversation about how they were intending to go on.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
We jump forward in time a bit.