Missing wolf: Rahne Sinclair

Posted on Tue Oct 14th, 2025 @ 3:02pm by Desmond Greene & Josiah Martin & Rahne Sinclair

2,672 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 0: X Lang Syne
Location: Xavier Mansion
Timeline: February 12, 1992, late evening

Night always seemed to slam down hard around the Xavier household in February. The mansion was situated far from the center of town, and even further from any neighbors. That meant that any and all light pollution used to come from the Mansion. That is not to say it doesn't still come from there, but now there are a number of large tents and other temporary shelters erected around it. Light streamed out from windows all across the rear garden.

So many people now occupied the grounds it felt like a small town to Desmond. He had grown up in one, and felt comfortable enough around the mutants that now roamed the area. They were generally good people, most of them just wanted to be healed and safe. But whenever people are this close for prolonged periods tensions rise. And when tensions boil over, fights happen. Today hadn't been the first day Desmond had to help break up a fight. The scuffle hadn't been much, but it had set him on edge. He had checked on all the residents of the Mansion, making sure everyone was safe. They were, all except for Rahne. His little werewolf friend had scampered off, as she was prone to do. But this wasn't last year, and the woods weren't that safe.

As Desmond walked back into the dining room he found the one X-Man not yet ready for bed. Urgency laced his gravely voice, "I think Rahne is out in the woods again. Can you help me find her? I'm worried someone'll spot her in her human shape and... Well I'd rather not jinx it or something."

Joey looked up from the book he was reading, ostensibly for English class, though his opinion of certain star-crossed lovers was pretty well-reasonedly low without rereading the piece. Regardless, evening after the younger students had gone to bed remained the best time to try to do any kind of homework or study, given the number of occupents of the mansion. He turned to Desmond. "Sure, Des. In honesty, I would be less worried about them seeing her in human form than the reaction to a half-ton wolf, but either way, it isn't exactly a good idea to be wandering about alone."

"If they spot her in her wolf form, we could just follow the screams. Though a human-sized rat and a walking tree finding her might not inspire more confidence." Desmond answered. He exuded a nervous energy and it filtered his voice. "Any chance you can track her? If I walk out and start calling her she'll sooner duck and stalk us than come out."

Joey stood up and put the book away. "At least we can still speak, but I'll help you look," he said, with an involuntary grimace at what people would say to running into a werewolf, an Ent, and a rat-man. "I feel like I should make a 'I'm a rat not a bloodhound' joke, but before I pretend to be a dog, let's see if I can get a feel for her without ratting out. It's late and I might not be able to turn back without sleeping first, and sleeping with rat teeth sucks."

"Sleeping in another form must suck." Desmond agreed sagely. He opened the one of the double doors to the covered porch. The cold rushed into the warm dining room. From the corner of his eye he even saw the fireplace waver for a moment before it decided to keep burning. "Let's head to the forest first. Knowing her, she's curled up in some hollow under a tree or something."

"If she's sleeping and somewhere reasonably safe, we should just leave her," replied the other boy as he followed along towards the edge of the woods. "I can understand how she feels sometimes. Like there's too many folk around and you need the quiet for a bit to put it all together. I nearly camped out in the woods myself when I first got here just to erase New York City from my mind."

The woods were a quiet affair of bare limbs and snow. The wind whistled through the branches quietly, creating the occasional sound of wood knocking on wood. The snow dampened any of the noise from the encampment a bit away.

"I get what you're saying. But underneath all the fur and claws she's still a thirteen year old girl. I wouldn't let any of my sisters sleep outside without someone I'd trust to look out for them." Desmond answered, a hint of a stubborn streak trying to shore up the strength of his argument. His eyes scanned the familiar shapes of the trunks around him.

Joey picked carefully through the woods as he listened to the sounds around them. The woods around the mansion were not really that wild, but there was still the off chance of a coyote or even a black bear possibly being in the area, albeit unlikely. The rat chuckled slightly. "I am also going to assume your sisters are not half-ton direwolves that are easily twice to three times the size of the next largest thing animal," he said. "But, let's find her first, regardless," he added, steering off towards the right towards the Baxter Reserve and reservoir. The activity seemed more timid in that direction.

"They're not, no." Desmond's mind drifted back to the faces of the young girls he had helped taken care of ever since he was old enough to walk. He'd been besotted with them, and still was he supposed. "I think I'm the only actual mutant in my family anyway. Thank God for that."

In the next ten minutes the brush grew thicker and branches closer together, the pine needles in Desmond's neck grew on edge. He rolled his shoulders in a nervous tick as he leaned forward towards Joey. "Man, something feels off about this spot. Do you 'sense' anything?"

A sound drifted through the woods that was somewhere between the whine of a dog and the crying of a child. It wasn’t a cry of urgent panic or pain but something much more pitiful.

Joey twitched slightly. "I do not need enhanced senses to know that sound," he responded as he felt the atmosphere. The woods certainly felt off, as if nature was responding to the emotional state of the creature making the sound. It tugged at his awareness. Normally, he would avoid such a place, but something told him their quarry was at the centre of it.

Once they had picked up on the sound of pitiful tears, it didn’t take long for the pair to find Rahne. She was sitting alone on a mossy, rotting log with her arms wrapped around herself in a hunched position. Half-shifted into her wolf form she was a hybrid creature covered in fur and with pointed ears while her figure was still that of a girl’s.

"Whit ur ye daein here?” She looked up as the two approached and Rahne’s look of sorrow turned into one of horror.

"Looking for you, of course." Desmond said as he approached her. He had taken in the sight of her, and he was surprised to see her in this state. That surprise turned into worry as her expression had shifted. He knelt before her, maybe five feet between them. He had learned a while ago that Rahne appreciated a little personal space at times. "What's wrong Rahne?"

Joey had the grace to look a little abashed at least. "What Groot there said," he said, hoping to at least lighten the mood somewhat. "Said he was worried about you being out alone in the woods at night. Figured we should at least make sure you're safe and still on private property at least," he added, not questioning her since Desmond already had and he figured she'd either tell them or not on her own.

“Ah dinnae want mah skin tae be stolen, like the selkies o' the sea.” While this explanation of why Rahne was upset wasn’t particularly clear, it was obvious enough to her that it made her whimper and cry all over again. Still tightly clutching her stomach she lost herself in whatever terrible fate she had decided she was to succumb to.

"Oh kiddo." Desmond sighed, his voice and exhalation filled with sympathy. Kids had fears, and they weren't always rational. It hadn't been the first time he'd talked a little girl out from under her bed because of a nightmare or a loud sound. He slowly took off his jacket, and shuffled forward while staying on her level. "Can I put this around you? It's nice and warm."

“Nae, ah’ll git it dirty wi’ bluid,” Rahne said while shaking her lupine head and still clutching her stomach. "“Ah’m nae cold, onyways.”

Desmond looked at the girl, his eyes searching her form for wounds. Her posture made it tricky, but he didn't see anything cut or torn. Then he remembered a day, maybe two years ago. Alicia came home in panic, tears streaming down her face and an unfortunate stain on her pants. She looked as miserable then as Rahne did now. Their mother had bundled up Alicia, and took her to the bathroom. Later their mother had explained just what happened, and how it could be affect his sisters in the future.

So Desmond did what he witnessed his mother doing. He took the jacket and gently bundled his young friend up. When he came close he softly spoke. "It's okay Rahne, I think I know what's going on. Let's get you inside and get you some help, okay?"

“Naw, Ah dinnae want tae!" She recoiled and sat up straight as his comment of going inside. "If Ah go inside an’ Miss Jean finds oot… it means Ah’m a grown-up noo. Ah dinnae want tae be a wumman, Ah dinnae want tae hae ma skin ta’en frae me." Rahne grew very sad again, her frown much deeper as a few large tears rolled down her fur covered face. "That’s whit happ’ned tae ma mam.”

It took Joey a few minutes to catch up with a werewolf with a Highlands Accent talking about what he presumed was some sort creature and skin and connect the dots to what was actually going on, although the clutching of the stomach, faint smell of blood, and the stain helped it along. Much like Desmond, he had enough sisters to know what was going on, although knight in shining armour was definitely more the other boy's strength. Still, he supposed he had to try. "No one around here will be doing any skin taking. I don't reckon that'd sit real well with folk here. Pretty sure tree man here will stake anyone trying, and I got claws for slicing if that don't work. Pretty sure we could get MacKenna to do some burying alive and Miss Bryant to do an impression of the electric chair as well."

Rahne shook her head in stubborn disbelief of what Joey was trying to convince to be true, she had lived this and watched it unfold right in front of her eyes. Despite the kindness of the people at Xavier’s she knew the rest of the world was not as compassionate. “Once a selkie’s grown, a man’ll try tae take her seal skin. Then she’s trapped on land wi’ him and aw his wickedness. Ye’ve nae choice but tae marry him, bear his bairns—’cause all ye want is yer skin back, so ye can return tae yer sisters in the sea. That prison… it kills the selkie. That’s what took my mum fae me. She just wanted her skin back, so she could be free. Instead… she became an angel in heaven.”

Rahne looked down at her furred and clawed hands, stuck in a half-wolf state that reminded her of her own magic skin and its power to change her, to make her free. "Ah dinnae want tae grow up."

"Rahne, please listen to me." Desmond said calmly. He hadn't shifted, stood up, or otherwise moved. "Joey is right. Nobody is taking anything from you, not your skin, not your pelt, and not your freedom. This is just part of what happens when you get a bit older. Boys start smelling a lot worse and think they can grow a mustache, girls get their periods. That doesn't mean you're suddenly getting married, or have children, or do anything else but take care of yourself."

He tried again to reach out to her, only to gently rest his hands on her shoulders. "You're like one of my little sisters. And just like I promised them, if anyone were to ever hurt you, they will regret ever even having the thought. You're kin, kiddo."

"Ah never had a bruthur before, or anyone who really wanted tae be mah kin.” Rahne wiped her runny nose on her sleeve and across her fur covered hand as she contemplated what the two teen boys were offering her. Life here was so different, sometimes it scared her and other times it surprised her. Miss Jean tried to get her to trust more, to try more, but only when she wanted to, when she felt safe. It had been a slow process of letting people in but it was getting easier to do as the fear of abuse was fading away. “Okay, let's go inside."

Desmond nodded in agreement, rising up from his squat with a bit of a groan of wood bending under pressure. His eyes shifted to Joey, waiting for the joke to come and already pre-loading his own snarky comeback, but only as the return volley. "You take the lead gingersnap, I can barely see where I'm going." He gently pushed Rahne out in front of himself and Joey.

“Gingersnap?” Rahne contemplated the term as she stood, her thick bushy tail tucked between her legs. “Like a biscuit, aye? Ah like that.” She seemed to have perked up a little as she began to march through the woods with a degree of confidence that few others possessed. "Ah dinnae have a nickname for either o’ ye."

"You'll come up with something," responded Joey thinking briefly. "Besides, Des and I both go by nicknames anyway," he added. He swallowed before the next question, as he did not really want to talk more about Rahne's problem, but younger sisters and practicality won out. "Maybe you can talk to Mrs. Summers tomorrow and see the doctor if your stomach is hurtin' but maybe just talk to one of the other girls for tonight to borrow some... supplies."

"Miss Jean knows, I telt her as we were walkin' back tae the hoose. Ye just huv tae think aboot her real hard, then shout her name in yer mind an’ she can usually pick up on it.” Rahne replied to Joey’s concern and despite her dislike for authority figures she has at least learned one useful skill in communicating with the headmistress.

Sure enough, as they cleared the woods and saw the silhouette of the mansion up on its hill they all could see Jean’s figure in the doorway. Dressed in a ball gown for one of the countless charity events she needed to attend, she had just recently returned home and was waiting for Rahne to come inside.

The wolf-girl looked back at the two of them, the happy look on her face seemed a little off with her mixture of human and lupine features but the sentiment was easy enough to pick up on. “Thank ye for comin’ tae get me an’ makin’ me feel better."

Desmond knelt down in front of Rahne, meeting her eyes. He gave her a sincere, encouraging smile. "Always. I'll come get you from any place, any time." He stood up and as he walked by he ruffled her head while nodding as Miss Summers in passing.

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