Chapter 8: Old Man Creed

Where were Victor and Noor Creed during the Logan's journey to get Laura to Eden?

It was comical yet in a sense the rather rapid disappearance of the Creed clan was to be expected. The safety of the Creed clan was top priority after all, especially when the family were threatened with the eradication of mutants, so they took their children and their children's children underground par the course.

However, the two parents, or rather the two heads of the Creed clan were no longer the spring chickens they used to be. They were, relatively speaking, young for their time but they were not immortal by any means. Unlike Logan, who aged as rapidly as a dragon fly, the ravages of time were only beginning to show the leaders of the Creed clan.

For instance, Creed's mutton chops were just turning grey, the lines on his forehead and cheeks deeper and his blue eyes were morphing into a stormy grey. Noor took it the hardest, of course, and every evening one could find her sitting in her husband's lap mapping out the face that she knew was now changing as it should have nearly a century ago whilst the fearsome Sabretooth closed his eyes and allowed his head to fall back as though he were napping.

Yet, despite her fretting, it was Victor who was most disturbed by the sudden changes in his mate: Noor's eyes were becoming a new shade of honeysuckle, her face bright though it was had new lines on them, her limbs became frail, and she would be wracked by sudden pains in her back. In addition to that, she would always be so cold, never quite warming even if she was smothered by layers of clothing.

Alas, it was with a heavy heart that Victor had moved his Mate to the northern forests of the Yukon where it was always too cold for her. It was under these circumstances that Victor became more insistent on staying with his Mate at all times, leaving his eldest, Amelia, in charge, and hoping to spend the rest of his days with his mate in peace. His body may not shown how life had ruined him, but his children could see how his mind took the toll.

It was as if he became single minded in his need to take care of Noor. The rest of the world could have been burning and he wouldn't have batted an eye. Other worries also evaporated for him: his children were grown, he had no want for blood shed anymore and had enough money and physical strength to last him a life time.

He just wanted to be with his Mate now, in peace, to be left alone with no one but him and his mate.

Hence, their children had done them the courtesy of allowing them the oldest cabin that they had in the region of Yukon that was twelve miles away to the main property that the Creed Clan were situated in.

Initially, the Yukon was thought to be the last place to be safe as it had been public knowledge that the Yukon was one of the many regions of Canada that acted as a home to the Creeds, but during the desolation of the Americas much of the Yukon became uninhabitable with the influx of predators and diseases that fled from the destruction just south of British Columbia. Natural fires that roared on for days, extremes in seasons and more made it the last place that any human would want to die in. Not the Creeds though, no, they just took advantage of the isolation. Although only a handful of the Creed clan were actually feral, the others were just as instinctual and able to live in the wild as Victor had insisted that all of his brood be trained to do so. Thus, the Yukon was their Eden, and they kept it that way.

With such a large food source with few competitors, the Creeds found a peace there that even Inu, the most hyper child of the first Creeds, could appreciate. Life was more simple now and they also loved that. The grown ups would hunt, do their business and looked after the children. Whereas the youths would continue with their studies, explored their territory and sat with their grandparents, the leaders of the Creed clan.

Apart from nurturing their grandchildren and their great grandchildren, Victor and Noor were an enigma to their own children. They rarely knew what the two elders were doing, however one was never without the other. Over the years, one would have thought they would have become bored with each other, yet they were a contradiction.

They were known to travel down to British Columbia to hike Mt Edziza, or if they wanted something closer, the Tombstone mountains, skinny dipping in the lakes, hunting the local pests, Caribou, taming marmots, creating nests out of leaves, moss and grass in the forests and just basking in each other's presence. If they wanted something more tame they would try to help breed the pileated woodpeckers, fish, nap together, read and – even Victor picked it up – carve intricate guitars out of the local Maple, Alder and Spruce trees.

Inu swore up and down that she had once heard Victor playing to Noor, however no one believed it nor did they want to. That imagery simply did not fit their father's icon. Albeit, as much as Victor tried to come off as the cruel kind, no one could deny that he loved his wife, his mate. Oft, Victor would become uncomfortable when someone would point this out and would growl at them until they shut their mouths unless it was his children and grandkids.

Despite his protests, it was on this warm summer evening, Amelia and Inu caught the two on the daybed on the veranda. Noor's small, now thin body, was perfectly encapsulated by Victor's hulking body, both fast asleep with Victor's favourite light maple wood guitar by their feet. The two daughters had come for some advice, however they dared not disturb them when they looked to be at such peace.

The daughters had merely retrieved some beers and sat a few yards away from the cabin on the baking ground. "Don't they feel uncomfortable like that?" Inu's bright and wrinkled eyes dashed towards her parent's before they came back to the small fire between them.

"I don't think so." Ameila sipped at her beer, "I think it's heart-warming though to see them like this. They can't sleep without one another anymore, did you know that?"

Inu sneered in distaste, "I know, they are fucking tragic."

Sharply, Amelia swatted at Inu's head, a grey strand of her own hair falling out of place in the act, "Watch your tongue. I know you forget at times but they're still your parents. They raised you. They didn't have to, not with the way you acted…"

"You shut your goddamn mouth! You think its normal what they have?" Inu pointed at the sleeping couple, "You think its normal that they're so dependent on each other?! Dad had such a good thing going unti-"

"Before you open your mouth and spout shit, just remember it takes two to make another one." Amelia pointed at her, warningly.

Inu's wrinkled eyes narrowed in exclamation, and her thin hand gripped the neck of the beer tightly, "I fucking know that! I'm just saying, Dad was one of the feared mutants out there, and now look at him?"

Just as Inu pointed her thin, hollowly finger at her parents, a small breeze wove through and Noor shuddered at the minute difference. As Noor shivered and shifted, curling a little, Victor stirred and his thick iron barred arms tightened around his mate, leaning over her more, to subconsciously share his body heat.

Amelia raised her nose and sniffed, "He's retired-"

"He retired 'cuz he knew the old lady was going to kick the bucke-"

SLAP

It echoed in the empty valley and Inu's head snapped to the side with the force. The two woman remained in silence until Inu turned and scoffed at her elder sister which elicited a growl from Amelia, "Just because you're lonely, doesn't mean everyone is miserable like you…"

Amelia stepped away, overlooking the surrounding hills, and muttered, "For the life of me, I will never understand what Mother did to you, but you can't-"

Inu hissed like a rattlesnake, "She lied! They both lied to us!" Inu stormed towards Amelia and yanked on her collar harshly, "They made us believe there was that one special person for us! Do you have anyone? No! Do I have anyone? No!"

Amelia stood her ground, her posture stiff and unwilling to bend towards Inu even though her shirt buttons were stretching beyond repair, "Sonya-"

"Sonya! Sonya married the first werewolf-"

"He's not a werewolf! He's a cayote feral!"

"-who found her and knocked herself up so she could live the dream that Mother fed us our entire lives!" Inu flailed her arms towards her parents' cabin, her voice bellowing.

"Keep your voice down! You're too old, you'll hurt something, and I don't want to wake up-" Amelia's chastising was interrupted by Inu's cruel laugh. She shoved Inu away with disgust and regarded her in an equally disregarding manner.

"You think I care if they wake up? They shouldn't be asleep at this time anyway! What if we needed them, or there was a fire on the property, or the fucking pigs came for us?!" her voice only trailed higher.

Amelia's eyes widened, her index finger pointing on the earth between them, "We are not their responsibility anymore-"

"Responsibility?!" Inu's held her arms up, "They decided to have us! I never asked to be born, alright? They knew what they were getting at!"

Amelia's eyes flickered as her scowl deepened and continued to listen to the abuse her younger sister shat out, "If anyone is responsible, it is that woman. She wanted this and suddenly! Now that she's feeling a little cold, that woman thinks she can call quits and leave!"

"That woman has a name," Amelia fisted her hands and ground her teeth, "She backed your damn ass for twenty-five years and still does even when everyone else wants to call you out for your shit, and this is how you repay her?" Her eyes flickered again but this time took their time to assess.

Inu spat on the ground, near the fire, "She wants to think she supported me, but that woma-"

Inu's soft, supple and ancient hand hit something hard as she flung it back to point at the woman in question. However, not only was what her hand impacted against hard but also breathing. Slowly, she rotated her head, dreading and knowing what she would find and came face to face with her father's stormy grey eyes. Once, those eyes held her in such reverence only they seemed as cold as the tundra up north when he glowered at her in a mixture of disappointment and aversion now.

That look alone let Inu know: she had fucked up. Her demeanour deflated under her father's loathing gaze and his body tensed and pulsed with anger he rarely displayed in recent years. Inu's crows foot deepened when she narrowed her eyes on his jaw that looked as if he would snap his teeth out in the way he worked it.

Nostrils flaring as a bull would when the matador would come to the ring, he noticed the sweat dripping from her eyebrow and growled, "That woman is yer mother, and she raised you too damn well for this shit to come out of ya, and more importantly…"

He stepped closer until his heated breath fanned her face and he swore to himself that even the blind would have been able to see the way her eyes pinned with fear, "…that woman is my fucking mate."

Scuffing the dry dirt nervously, Amelia shuffled a little closer and held her hand to grab for Inu, "Dad, she-"

Darkly, Victor growled low in his throat as a warning for what was to come to her if she didn't back off. Heeding the threat, Amelia's hand went limp but defiantly she remained shouldered to her sister. As amusing it was to see the bonds between his kitlings, he was not about to lay on his back when someone shamed and discredited his mate and wife, least of all an individual from his own brood.

"Listen cub and listen good," his chest heaved as the anger prepared his psychologic for a fight, "Any time your got grief to hash out, you go to William or Nero. Anytime you think you need to share that grief with your Ma, you come to me. But, you never…" And he fisted her collar and raised her by the neck until she was just about eye level, "ever come here saying that shit to your Ma. If you do, I'll rip your fucking tongue out and feed it to you."

Little crescents formed on Inu's hands with the force she exerted on to the callouses of her hand and just as her father taught her so long ago, she never let her mask slip. Never in her life would she openly ever break down in fear in her father's eyes or it would be the death of her.

"And before you open your yap and spout shit being unfair, just remember that woman" he nodded towards Noor, "was the woman that was with you when you started your damn hoo-ha business thirty years ago. That was the woman that put up with your shit when I wanted to throw you out on the streets for your fucking shenanigans. You got that?"

When Inu stiffly nodded Victor threw her to the ground unceremoniously and fortunately Amelia was there to catch Inu. They both shot Victor a glare when he growled at them softly, "Now get off my damn property!"

He made a show about going inside but he didn't take a single step on the veranda until he heard their truck back up and kick up dust. Victor's eyes flashed to his mate and released a sigh when he realised she hadn't stirred an inch from where he left her. All he had wanted was to be left alone, but his damn cubs didn't understand his language.

Next time I'll treat them the way they behave and tan their hides, he promised himself.

His eyes sharply focused on his mate again when she moaned and shuffled, looking for a warmer spot no doubt, and it twisted something deep in his chest seeing her like this; so vulnerable. His knees almost gave out when he carried her in her arms and he barely had to use his muscles at all. Noor had been more on the chubby side for the majority of her life and then suddenly along with the apocalypse, she turned thin and willowy. It wasn't a lack of nutrition, no, Victor fed her well everyday. So, it could only mean that her health was failing, and Victor didn't want to think like that.

Of course, he took her to all the help that was provided, both professional and illicit. Yet, they couldn't see anything wrong with her. It was so damn nauseating for him to see her like this. As he shut the door gently with his foot, the forgotten guitar outside began to slide and it clattered loudly when it bounced off of the floor.

His eyes snapped shut and he refrained from cursing for he knew that was all it took to wake Noor. Her groggy eyes slid open, glazed and unfocused, until she took a deep breath and murmured, "Victor, wha- what's going on?"

Victor sped his way to the bed and laid her upon it like she was made of glass, "Nothin', you go back to sleep."