Chapter Text
Logan hadn’t been able to sleep, nightmares and memories keeping him up. He gave it up for a loss around one in the morning and slipped silently out of the mansion. He didn’t usually think about how large the grounds were, but the wooded areas around the lake were helpful to clear his thoughts. He took off at a lope, deciding he’d see what was out and moving at this hour. He could hear an owl hunting at a distance, and unless he was mistaken there was a family of raccoons just over the next hill as he reached the wood’s edge. He slowed down, moving quietly and downwind as much as possible as he crept through the shadows. It was always relaxing to see how close he could get before they noticed him. He called it hunting and knew what others thought when he said that, but there was a peace and an intimacy to it, not a violence. It was something he was good at. One of the few that didn’t mean he ended up with blood on his claws.
He went still when silence started among the smallest creatures to the east. Not far from him, and the larger animals didn’t seem as worried, so nothing that would be a problem for him. He turned in that direction in time to see a large shadow detach from the bushes and leap up onto a log, the moon catching on patches of white fur and making the eyes flare gold. The scent caught up a second later and he relaxed. It was a cat. A large cat, but just a housecat. It looked well-fed and its very fluffy fur was well groomed. He took a careful step forward, “Hey, there.”
The cat eyed him with that look that most cats seemed to know, trying to figure out if he was worth the energy of disdain even before it hopped down off the log and strolled toward him, winding around his shins a couple times. He reached a hand down as it chirped at him once but it ducked away toward the edge of the small clearing, glancing over its shoulder as though asking if he was going to be joining it or not.
“Yeah, sure, why not. Might as well follow the cat in the forest.” He would swear the cat was laughing at him as it flitted into the shadows again and he had to hurry to keep up with it. It was frustrating that it could move that fast and that quiet when he had to pay attention at this speed.
He thought he lost the cat a few minutes later but it ran a young squirrel virtually into his hands, the squirrel seemed alarmingly alright with climbing up and around on a human and clinging to his shoulder, chattering down at the cat who just looked smug before it looked at Logan like he was meant to have any idea what to do with this. “I’m gonna put the squirrel back on the tree now.” The cat’s eyes widened and there was a sub-vocal growl from it at that suggestion.
Logan looked at the squirrel at that and it looked back at him before huffing what he would swear was a pout and making to climb down. The cat’s growl got louder at that and the squirrel twitched its tail and then curled up in Logan’s pocket instead, peeking out at the cat as if to say “I’m staying, see?”
The cat stood and flicked its tail before starting off into the woods again, Logan following it out of some sort of morbid curiosity. By the time the cat had dragged him almost all the way around the lake and back to the mansion he’d picked up a dozen small creatures, a couple of which were strangely content to share space in his pockets. Oh, and there was the bear cub following on his heels with an immature stoat on its shoulders. Every time the bear tried to change from following, the cat would growl again around the scruff of the fox kit it was carrying. It wasn’t a small kit either, the cat was all but dragging it in places, but seemed more exasperated than upset about it. And considering the cat hadn’t been taking the prey animals away Logan still couldn’t figure out what the fuck sort of fairy world he’d walked in on.
The cat finally stopped at the steps into the mansion and stared up at Logan, setting the fox kit down and stepping a paw onto the kit’s tail in a move that looked like an adult grabbing an escaping kid by the back of a shirt. “You what?”
The cat’s tail twitched and it stared at him before looking pointedly at the door and then back at him.
“Ain’t nobody in there gonna appreciate me bringing all of you inside.”
The cat stared at him for another minute before flicking its tail and standing, making an upset sound at the fox kit when it tried to scurry off, which caused the kit to lay down with its ears back, obviously scolded. The cat twitched its tail and strolled up to the door, leaping up to a pedestal right next to the door. It stared at Logan again in something like a challenge before it started batting at the area around the doorbell.
Oh fuck no. He was being blackmailed by a cat. If that bell went off Summers would have a fit, which would be amusing, but so would the rest of the staff and he was not dealing with a pissed off Ororo. Not again this week. “Fine! Fine. This once. You come in. You get, I don’t even know what the fuck you want—” The cat hissed at him and the squirrel in his chest pocket let out a chitter that seemed amused. “—but if I get hell for this you do too.”
The cat simply watched him until he opened the door and then hopped down to herd the walking animals in around him. As soon as the front door was closed the cat was wrapping around his shins, making pleased chirps and something that wasn’t quite a purr which seemed like some sort of goddamn signal as every last one of the animals they’d gathered bailed out and took off upstairs. The cat watched them go before perching itself on the bottom step, looking smug.
Logan eyed it and looked toward the front hall clock. Four fifteen. Great. Summers would be up in less than an hour and Logan was not ready to deal with him. He pointed at the cat, “This is your fault.”
One ear twitched back at that and the tail tapped twice before the cat strolled off down the hall toward the kitchen. Logan swore under his breath but followed to find the cat standing on the island by the time he got there. It looked annoyingly pleased with itself and Logan paused, finally getting a good look at it. It was a healthy-looking cat, well-muscled, and its coat was smooth even after a night in the woods. That was some sort of miracle considering how long its fur was. Shades of brown and gray and orange spattered around it, the orange sort of tabby, and the brown and gray forming a sandy mud kind of color along its sides. It had white along its chest and right near the tip of its nose. The eyes were definitely gold though.
“You’ve obviously got a home. Why’re you here then, handsome?”
The cat preened as Logan dug out one of his hidden beers and popped off the lid before offering his hand to be sniffed. That got him another of those smug cat-amusement looks before it politely sniffed his fingers and butted its head against them until he started scratching the really damn soft fur.
They stayed like that until the hall clock chimed the forty-five minute mark. The cat hopped off the counter then and stretched before trotting out of the kitchen. Logan went to follow it, but by the time he did it had vanished and he frowned. That was the weirdest hunt he’d ever been on.
He had very little time to process even that much before Scott goddamn Summers was walking down the stairs and into the kitchen just as the clock chimed five. “Morning, Logan. You’re up early.”
“So’re you.”
“I’m always up this early. You’re not,” Summer pointed out before grabbing a protein shake and downing it quickly. “You up for a round in the Danger Room?”
“You’ve gotta be kidding. This early?”
“You could just say no, you know,” Summers said tartly before he was out of the kitchen and Logan could hear him heading for the lower levels.
Goddamn that man never fucking relaxed. On the other hand, if getting up at five meant seeing him tousled and in a fucking t-shirt, Logan might be tempted to try it again. Who knew Summers actually got bedhead? Logan was pretty sure he’d never seen the man less than pressed to military precision. Thoughts for another time. He threw something together for an ungodly early breakfast and headed upstairs to at least pretend to get ready for his own day.
It was a couple of weeks later that Logan found himself out in the woods around midnight again, no nightmares this time just frustration and anger over how much goddamn grief he was getting from Summers this week. The moon was a barely-there sliver in the sky. He’d been out there for about five minutes when he realized something was coming up from the east. He paused and was both surprised and really, really, not to see the same cat sitting on a log like it had been waiting for him. “What’s the quest this time? Find pixies and gnomes?”
The cat stared at him, a brief low growl before it seemed to lower its hackles and hopped down. There was no greeting winding this time before it was heading toward the edge of the clearing again, looking over its shoulder at him. He was really tempted to say fuck it and go back to the school, but he was curious if it would go the same again.
It did, well, minus the bear, which was replaced by a fawn, and the cat made him carry the fox kit this time as it had to chase down the squirrel twice, giving up and carrying the squirrel itself. They made it back to the mansion and he didn’t bother arguing when the cat hopped up next to the bell without any attempt to convince him. It reached for the bell with its paw and he beat it there, getting the door open. “Don’t you dare.”
The cat blinked at him placidly, the squirrel chittering something that sounded creepily like a giggle at that, before it jumped down and deposited the squirrel inside the door, watching the fawn go inside and following Logan in. Again, there wasn’t any of the affectionate winding and the sound it made was more irritated, but was still a soft chirp and Logan’s pockets suddenly emptied again. He looked at the clock to see it was only three this time at least. Two hours if he didn’t just go upstairs now.
The cat watched the other animals scurry upstairs before looking at Logan and then turned to lead the way into the front lounge. Logan seriously considered ignoring that until the cat stopped and looked at him like it had at the beginning of the night. He grimaced but followed the cat to the lounge, dropping down onto the couch and startling when the cat hopped up next to him, curling up against his thigh and nudging at his hand until he started stroking its fur. It started purring, eyes not closing but going half-lidded at least.
“Why do you want them all in here? I couldn’t find a single one of them after last time.”
The cat turned its head lazily to look at him and then curled up a bit more, ears twitching and its purr getting louder.
“That’s all I’m getting, huh? Fair enough.” He wouldn’t admit it on pain of near death, but he felt himself relaxing and some of the tension unwinding. The purring was soothing and he could feel his eyelids growing heavier.
Logan came awake with a start to see the sky starting to brighten with the dawn. He turned his head sharply toward what had woken him to find Summers standing in the doorway, his hair perfectly styled and his day clothes on. He had two coffee mugs in his hand and he set one down next to the couch. “Caffeine doesn’t do shit for me, Summers.”
“The way you look it’s worth a shot today,” came the answer as Summers sipped at his own mug and left the room. “Kids’ll be down soon, you might want to clear out.”
Logan grumbled but got to his feet and picked up the coffee.
It was only three days later that Logan woke up at four thirty and swore. He got up and went down to the front door, opening it to head out on his run to find the cat sitting with its paw almost on the bell. It blinked at him, almost as surprised as he was from the looks of it. And now he really was assigning it humanity which wasn’t good. Animals were their own type, just like humans were and mutants were. The cat chirped, making a rumbling sound and Logan had to step back to let the menagerie dart past him and up the stairs. The cat hopped down and he stared back at it. “You coming in?”
It looked past him toward the stairs just as the stoat’s tail disappeared over the landing and then sat down outside the door, grooming its paw and ears. He rolled his eyes and shut the door, heading upstairs to see if he could figure out what the fuck this all was. He reached the upper hall to find no animals. Not even the scent of them. Just like every other time. Maybe it was time to let Summers know about the creepy fairy animals. He could hear that Summers was up and moving around, a faint scent of outside wafting down the hall when he approached the other man’s room.
Before he could decide whether this was a good idea or not, Summers came out of his room, looking rested and sleep-tousled. It was criminally unfair how good such a prick could look fresh out of bed. That furrow on his brow showed up when he looked down the hall, “Logan? You need something?”
One more shot at investigating this himself couldn’t hurt, could it?
“Nah, just thought I’d take a turn around.”
Summers hummed, “Okay then.” And then he was off, probably down to train again.