Chapter Text
5/1/1845
Howlett Estate, North-Western Territory, British North America(Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada)
“ You're always sick.” Clara said worried, sitting by James bedside while her brother was sitting at the foot as he sharpened his claws, subtly watching the two as Clara rubbed James back, helping with the coughing fit he was going through, easing the young master Howlett through it, a small boy with thick dark brown hair and such soft eyes you would think him a doe instead of a boy.
Little James looked up at the siblings, they were as different as night and day, Victor, his hair almost as dark as James with his Blue-Green eyes watching everything with caution and steel for as long as James could remember, his little sister Clara on the other hand was his opposite, Hair as light as silver with her eyes a cheerful emerald that outshined her brothers darkness, keeping him from his darker impulses.
“You two were sick when you were my age.” little James said to them, Victor kept sharpening as Clara just smiled at him, “True but still we weren’t-” before she could finish her thought, John Howlett, James’ father and master of the Howlett Estate entered the room, Victor and Clara both stood up quickly, they being the Groundskeepers children and not of the same standing as either one no matter how well they’re treated.
“Evening, sir.” Victor said quickly as he hid his hands and knife behind him, worried what John would think, “Evening, Victor.” he said nodding to the boy, “Clara.” he said nodding to her as well who only smiled and nodded back to him, “I didn't realize that you two were still here.” he said, knowing why they were not with their father, fearing what they would meet at the cottage on his property.
“We’re just keeping James company, sir.” Clara told him, giving him an excuse for their being here, neither one of them wanting to go home but also not wanting to insult their father, at least Clara didn’t, “If that's all right…” Victor said timidly, not wanting to insult Mr. Howlett in a way that would kick them out from the main house like how their fathers actions threatened to, time and time again.
“Very kind of you.” John told the two as he moved to his sons right side, Victor backed away, keeping his eyes on John as he sat on the edge of the bed, opposing Clara who gave a comforting smile to her brother, “Are you better, son?” he asked, staring kindly into his sons eyes, “Still cold, Father.” he told his father as he stroked his left temple, worried that he would fall ill like John Jr.
“It's just a mild fever.” he told his son, trying to convince both of them of this phrase, “You'll be alright in the morning.” he told him as Victor glared behind the master, he was kind and actually caring for James, it made Victor jealous, angry, Clara noticed this and motioned with her hand, “Calm down Victor.” She thought, feeling the same thing as him, both wishing that their father was as kind as Master Howlett.
“You always say that.” he said, he’d been sick for the last year now, he couldn’t play like he used to with the siblings, exploring the woods and facing monsters of the mind “And you always pull through, don't you?” he said, chuckling to his son, that was the big difference between the two of his sons, John Jr. was always sickly, no matter how much they treated him he just got worse and worse, but with James, no matter how bad it got he always bounced back.
James smiled at his son lovingly agreeing with him, seeing the joy in his face, John smiled back before turning to Clara, she nodded before taking the bottle of medicine the physician subscribed to James and handed it to Master Howlett “Now ... take your medicine.” he told his son gently, about to give the bottle to his son when they heard the front door being slammed upon by a heavy fist.
“Elizabeth!” The Four of them heard, Clara and Victor both looked to each other, knowing what was going to happen, “Elizabeth!” Victor turned his gaze to the door, a little relieved that he wasn’t here for him or his sister, John lost his smile and looked tiredly at the door, “Your father's drunk again .” he told the pair of siblings, all but James knowing how bad he got, all of them trying to spare the child from the brunt of it.
Thomas Logan was a drunk and sad man, ever since his wife died in 1830 delivering Clara, he was always an angry man but when he lost Victoria, he got darker, angrier, his drinking became worse as time went on until both his children were too scared to stay alone with him, “You should help him home, Victor.” he told Thomas’ son turning to him, Clara tensed at this, not wanting to leave her brother alone with him when Victor spoke up.
“It's not my name he's calling, sir.” her brother told John Howlett, the two of them stared at each other for a moment when he realized the name that Thomas was really saying, John launched himself off the bed and rushed to the door opening it, “Father!” James said sitting up worried about what was happening, “Stay where you are, James!” John told his son, motioning to his son to stay down as he headed out to confront their father.
“Father!” he shouted again as both he and Victor left, Clara stayed behind with James, trying to keep him calm as the pair of them heard shouting on the other side of the door, “I told you never to come back here!” They heard over all the screaming, “It’s alright James, everything will be alr-” Clara wasn’t able to finish the sentence when a gunshot was heard, startling the pair of them.
Claras’ eyes widened as both of them heard that, she looked at Little James all scared, and wasn’t able to move fast enough to stop him from running out of his room, “Damn it!, James!” She yelled as she ran after him, running down the hall, following him and the screams of Miss Elizabeth, both of them worried at what had become of both of their fathers after the shot.
When the two of them reached the top of the stairway and saw the scene, on the right side, there was Claras’ father holding a rifle in one hand and Mrs. Howlett in the other, Victor in the corner away from the conflict in the dark, keeping her from running to the left side where Mr. Howlett laid on the ground, James rushed down the steps to his father, trying to stop the wound made in his gut by a bullet, James crouched by his fathers side to try and help him.
John looked up to his son, blood soaking his vest as he looked up at the ceiling before James started tearing up at the sight with Clara close behind, helping lift Johns’ head up to see his son, “James …” he weakly said, his last words as his body gave away, fading away slowly, the only thing left in his eyes was love as he faded away, James shut his eyes as he started to tear up, Clara closed his eyes in respect as they held a moment of silence.
It was a tense moment with emotions bubbling up until the silence was broken, “James …” Thomas said, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, “There are things you don't understand.” he said, his face something that Clara had never seen in her life, he was remorseful, not showing any of the anger she or Victor commonly saw, it was strange, alien, why would he look like this to the family he hated?
Elizabeth seemed to know what he was about to say, her face filled with worry and fear, “Don't…” she pleaded to Thomas, even in the position that she was in, begging him not to speak, Clara turned to Victor who just stared in fear at his father and the violence he had caused, “I need him to know!” he said to her, anger creeping into his voice, his true self showing.
Elizabeth just kept begging as James and Clara lifted themselves from the ground, Clara was scared of what was going on but she could practically smell the anger coming off of James, “Please no!” Elizabeth said as Victor crept closer, moving to try and remove Elizabeth from his fathers grasp, not wanting him to see him just yet before he made his move against Thomas.
“No...more...lies!” Thomas shouted, spooking Victor who backed away but that wasn’t important, what was important was James, the anger in his small form grew and grew, and grew until all he could do was clench his fists in rage, “He killed my father! He killed him!” His anger felt as if it was piercing through his knuckles, needles of rage breaking through his skin, all in attendance were shocked at the sight before them, Clara and Victor more so, “He’s like us, Like Victor” Clara thought.
“James …” Elizabeth said but James couldn’t hear her, his rage was too much, it was if a wolf had finally uncurled itself within his mind and took control, it saw Thomas as an enemy, a threat, something that needed to die, “UHNOOOO!” James screamed throwing back his head in rage before charging at the pair, Thomas, his face fear filled, raised his rifle but before he could fire, Elizabeth moved, pushing his gun away and opening Thomas up for her son to pierce him through the chest.
“James!” Elizabeth screamed as James pushed Thomas into the wall, nearly holding him up with pure rage, Clara and Victor could only watch, no fear, no sadness, only surprise at what had become of the man who was their father, Thomas looked down with all the strength he had left, looking at the furious face of James, “He...he wasn't your father …” he said.
This confused James, he looked towards his mother kneeling on the ground, staring at the two of them, her face said it all for Thomas’ children but James was still confused, he looked back at Thomas who was trying to say something, one word that stunned three of the people there, “... son.” Thomas said in a raspy voice, sadness filling his eyes as he took a final breath.
He grew too heavy for little James now, so he drew his hands back, letting Thomas unceremoniously fall to the ground “What are you?” Elizabeth asked her son, fear littering her voice as James stared back at her, looking at his hands he started to panic at what had just happened, the fear that was coming off of James, even Victor could smell it, neither he nor Clara knew what he was going to do when all of a sudden he ran.
As James ran by his mother, she flinched as he drew close, right before James ran out the door, both Victor and Clara looked at each other at that, knowing exactly what had happened, Victor was the first to run out, not looking behind while Clara followed, giving one last look to Mrs. Howlett before following her brother into the woods and to James.
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James was running as fast as his legs could take him, the pain in his hands at the little spikes from his knuckles starting to kick in as he ran, “What did he mean?” James thought, “What happened?” James had no idea what was going on as his bare feet took him further and further away from the place that he called home, running through the trees on the verge of tears until he felt someone grab him from behind.
James fell to the ground, hurrying as fast as he could, James scurried away from the attacker before getting up and turning, his hands in fists but those weapons were gone, as if they were a dream, who he saw staring at him was Victor, his sister Clara coming up as well, “They must hate me.” he thought, “I killed their father they must blame me.” scared, James started to apologize, “I didn't mean it! I didn't…” he said.
“Yes, you did!” Victor said staring straight into his eyes, but there was no anger in them, “He deserved it!” he said as he slowly approached James, like a wounded animal ready to attack again, “And you give it to him.” James seemed to have calmed down at that so Victor decided to take a risk, clasping his shoulders, “We're family, Jimmy.” he said, looking back to Clara who had caught up with them.
“You realize that?” he asked James, “Family,” He said “real family protect each other.” Clara getting by her brothers side, giving him a reassuring smile his way, “You have to be hard now.” Victor said, there was no good way to see what had happened, the three of them were going to be blamed, the Creeds for helping their father which they never would have done, and James for murder, “Hard that nothing can't ever touch us.”
James didn’t seem that convinced by that, in fact it looked like he was going to cry instead “I want to go home.” this wasn’t Victors forte so Clara decided to speak up, “We can't.” Clara said, putting her hand on his shoulder comforting him as best as she could, “We stick together no matter what.” radiating calm which seemed to stop James from breaking down, “and take care of anyone who gets in our way.” Victor continued.
“Can you do that little brother?” he asked James, they could hear the dogs barking in the distance as James gave a quick nod to the two, Clara turned to get a better listen and she did not like what she heard, “They're coming…” she told her brothers, the worry in her voice was all Victor needed to hear “Can you run?” he asked James who responded with his subtle nods again, “...Ok.” he said.
The three of them turned and started to run, Victor on his left while Clara on his right, both leading him by the shoulder, “Keep on running.” Victor said as they started to pick up pace, moving faster as Clara turned to see the approaching trackers and their hounds, “Don't look back.” she told the others, wherever they were going to head to, but she did know that the three of them will be together.