Title: Wolf and Lass
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: New Mutants (a branch of the X-Men)
Characters/Pairing: Danielle/Rahne
Rating: Mild PG-13/T
Challenge: #61: Transformation
Word Count: 1,448
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners, not the author.


She watched silently as every muscle in her best friend's body tensed. She could feel the wolf within her almost as strongly as if she had been within herself. She was tense, taut, itching, aching, yearning to be free with everything inside of Rahne, both those things she acknowledged and those things she dared not for she still feared they came from the Devil. The girl was a puzzle, Danielle thought, to have such a force within her and be so good but to fear herself, even after all this time away from the wicked Reverend who had shaped her thinking, evil.

She wished she could help her. She'd like to, but she didn't have the words to tell her what she felt. She didn't know how to tell her that the wolf who lived within her was just another part of herself even though Danielle felt something similar in her own self. She had for many years now. It was why she hated living amongst people but only part of the reason why she abhorred the white man so greatly. Humans were animals. She was an animal, and the only place she'd ever felt free was in her woods and in her mountains back home.

Her eyes moistened as the others talked around them. She still couldn't stop wanting to cry every time she considered what a bad idea it would be for her to return home. There were few times that she did not think of home, of her animal friends she had left behind, and her grandfather who was no longer waiting for her there. This had been his idea as to what her life should become after his death, and out of respect for him, she would do her best to make this new life work.

Even if she hated it. She hated having to take orders from a white man, hated trying to believe in a white man's dream. She hated living in the city, so far away from animals and nature. Most of all, she hated that her grandfather had been killed and his murderers had not yet died at her own hands.

But there were a few times when she didn't mind this life quite so much, like now when Rahne's wild, green eyes met hers timidly. She stared back. They were both tense, both ready to run into the action, but both also doing what they felt they should and waiting for their leader's orders. She'd thought she'd run into battle the moment he gave the word, but she didn't for she caught the change in Rahne's eyes at the spoken command and stood, transfixed, as she changed.

Her eyes were the first to change in her transformation this time. Her pupils narrowed, and her green eyes seemed almost to glow. Fur spread quickly over her body, her red hair and white skin turning into the thick, brown mane of her lupine form. She lowered her head, and Danielle knew, from that motion, that Rahne was aware she was watching her and embarrassed to be caught so intently underneath her gaze. If she had followed the white man's etiquette, such as it were, she might have looked away, but Dani was a wild thing herself.

Rahne's nose grew longer and merged with her mouth to become a snout. Her ears grew smaller and more pointed. Her fingernails became claws, her teeth fangs. In a matter of seconds, her transformation was complete. Only then did Dani move, rushing into battle alongside her best friend.

The fight was swift and over too quickly. Wolfsbane took down the last of their enemies, her teeth holding the guy down by the collar of his jacket until he submitted and allowed Rictor to tie him up. They waited until the white man's law arrived before racing off into the shadows. The others went one way; Rahne and Dani another.

It was a few miles before Rahne returned to her human form. When she did, she was panting, and her face was as red as her hair. Danielle immediately removed her fringed, leather coat and draped it over the younger girl's bare shoulders. "Thanks, Dani," Rahne murmured.

"Is this why you chose not to return with the others?" Danielle asked curiously.

"Nae." Rahne fell silent again. Dani walked patiently and silently beside her until the girl finally chose to speak up again. "Ye . . . Ye watched me transform."

"Yes," Danielle replied truthfully. There was no shame in witnessing such beauty, and she wondered why Rahne was upset by the fact she'd watched her. Had she been embarrassed to be eyed so closely -- she knew the girl was shy --, or was it because she was still ashamed of her wolf?

"Why?"

Rahne's quiet query caught Danielle by surprise. She stopped, caught her wrist gently in her hand, and turned them both so that she could look at her. "Why what, Rahne?"

Rahne's eyes would not meet hers. "Why did ye watch me, Dani? 'Tis a horrible thing."

"No, Rahne, it's not horrible. The wolf is not of the Devil. She is of you."

"So ye say," Rahne retorted with a heavy sigh. Her shoulders sagged underneath Dani's coat. "So Lady Moira says an' Professor Xavier. But I din't see how th' beastie could be a t'ing o' good, a t'ing from th' good Lord above. It must be o' th' Devil."

"Rahne, you are not of the Devil. You are not evil."

"But the wolf -- "

"The wolf is you, Rahne."

"Dani, had I let th' wolf have its way, tha' boy would nae be alive now! It wanted tae gi for his throat!"

"But because you are the wolf and you control the wolf, you didn't bite his throat. You bite his jacket."

"Ack, di nae smile at me like that, lass! 'Tis serious! I'm tellin' ye, th' beastie wanted him dead! I could smell his blood an' everythin'!"

"Rahne," Danielle tried to get on her level to reason with her, even though her beliefs didn't match hers, "we are all faced with thoughts of good and evil. You know I wanted to kill my grandfather's murderers, but I didn't. I still regret that."

"But ye did th' right t'ing -- "

"To your white man's way of thinking, yes, but not to my people's. Not to mine. Does that make me evil?"

"Nae, but then ye're nae a Werewolf -- "

"And neither are you, Rahne. You are a mutant. We both are. Our powers just happen to be different."

The girls looked up as Cannonball dropped in from the sky. "There y'all are! We've been lookin' everywhere for ya!" He turned immediately to Rahne. "Are you okay?"

She fell silent but nodded meekly. She would not talk of such doubts with him but only with those she most trusted. Danielle smiled warmly, realizing that she was among that number, and watched her intently, through the side of her brown eyes, the entire trip home. Being with these people was not so bad, but only because of one in their number.

Rahne wasn't evil. One day, she'd come to accept the fact that neither part of her was wicked or from the Devil in whom she believed. Danielle had no doubt of that, but now she wondered rather Rahne would eventually come to think she was wicked instead. After all, she'd learned something very valuable tonight.

The girl walking beside her was her best friend and one of only two reasons why she stayed in this white man's world. The wolf wasn't just good. She was beautiful, and so was Rahne. Rahne snuck a look at her and gave her a little smile; Dani beamed in response.

She remembered earlier that night when she had thought of her as a puzzle. She truly was a puzzle. Wild and timid, bold wolf and shy girl, ferocious and shy, enticing and withdrawn, she was all those things and more. Dani wanted to know every bit of that "more", she realized, of both wolf and girl. She wanted to unravel her puzzle.

She reached out and took her hand. Rahne didn't pull away. Dani held her hand more firmly as they walked through the night, caught her eye again, and met her timid smile with her own bold grin. She wanted to love this white woman, this beautiful, wild, and timid Scottish lass and wolf. She wanted to love her, and one day, she would. She just hoped Rahne wouldn't think her evil when she did and that her love might just be returned. Perhaps her grandfather had known, after all, what he was doing when he had planned her future without her.

The End