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He hides in the shadows, remembering a life forever gone.

Everyone tries to help, but they can’t.

They don’t know how he feels. How it feels…

….To have an animal inside you.

To have a ‘Beast’ inside you.

-----

“Mr. McCoy,” her voice comes like a cool breeze over his desert. “Henry,” she calls again.

“Ah, Ms. Monroe,” He lets go of the bar, flipping mid-air to face her. “Sorry, I was so engrossed in the book that I….”
“Please, do not apologize,” she smiles at him, instantly setting him at ease. “And, please call me Ororo. Even the students do not call me Ms. Monroe.”

“Very well, Ororo,” his smile reveals his canines, now flashing as fangs after the change. After he lost the man to the beast. “How can I assist you?”
“It is I who should be asking this question,” she sits down and gestures to the space beside her. “I…I have come here to talk to you about something.”

“Sure,” he sits down and plants his hand at his chin, presenting a twisted ‘thinker’ pose. “Please, go ahead.”

-----

“Its about you,” her words startle him, instantly setting him on guard.
“Me,” he straightens in his place. “I am sorry if I have…”

“Henry,” she lays a calming hand on his paw like limb. “Please stop apologizing. Its very….disconcerting.”
“I am…” he starts again, only to stop himself. “No apologizing. What about me?”

“You seem withdrawn,” she instantly gets to the point.
“I…” he starts but stops as she continues.

“Even the students have noticed that,” she explains. “They say, they miss their old teacher. The one who taught chemistry while reciting Shakespeare, and who even after all that, managed to be the best gym teacher they had. They miss that, and more…..they miss you.”
“Ororo,” he stands up and goes to the window. The children are playing outside. “I…I can not…”


“Can not?” she comes and stands beside him. “What? Why? What is troubling you?”
“That man, the one you talk about. The one the students miss. That man is gone,” he gestures to himself. “Even if my appearance doesn’t disturb them, the beast inside me must.”

“Henry,” she rests a slender manicured hand on his shaggy blue shoulder.
“Henry,” he hangs his head. “My mother named me that. But….that’s not who I am anymore. I am Beast, the animal, inside and out.”

“No, you are not,” she tries to reason.
“Yes, I am,” he turns his gaze back to the students. “Even after all the sessions with Charles, I can feel him inside him. Ready to come out, ready to run free. I cannot risk that, not here, not with the children. They are too precious for that.”

-----

“Do you see that?” she points to a lone figure walking in the distance. “Look at the edge of the woods.”
“Hmmm, yes,” his enhanced senses work better than her. “Isn’t that….”

“Logan,” she smiles softly. “Isn’t that him.”
“Yes,” he turns to her. “How did you?”

“See him,” he nods his head at her words. “I didn’t. I just knew that would be him. Today…no tonight, it will be only him. Even the students know that.”
“Why?” his temple creases. “Is there some reason for that? Something special.”

“Yes and no,” she answers cryptically. “Today he had a run with Sabertooth.”
“Oh,” he turns his gaze back to the trees, the lone figure there, long gone.

“Yes,” she sighs and smiles sadly. “So tonight he is going out there. For himself and for the rest of us.”
“The rest of us?” her words surprise him. “Why is that?”

-----

“Do you know about Logan’s mutation?” she turns to him. “Do you know why he is called the Wolverine?”
“Yes,” he nods cautiously, sensing something new to be revealed. “Because of his enhanced senses, claws, healing ability.”

“Yes,” she smiles at his thoroughness. “I see you studied all our files. But there is something that is not there in them. Not there in his file.”
“What?” the scientist is intrigued.

“You see Henry, an animal lurks in Logan too,” she finally comes to her point. “One that he also fights to contain within himself. Because he has the same fears as you. Because he cares for the children too, and everyone else amongst us.”
“Hmmm,” he catches the softness in her voice, the slight coloring of her cheeks, instantly realizing the closeness between her and their feral teammate. “So tonight…”

“Tonight,” her eyes turns back towards the lake. “Tonight he lets the Wolverine out.”

“You see Henry…” her lips curve up.

“You are not the only beast in town.”

Note: Hope you liked the Beast-Storm friendship bit. Two *Beast-centric* episodes, ‘Beast of Bayville’ and ‘Retreat’. Beast comes to out in the first and lets himself out in the second.

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