X-men AU, don't own X-men, only my characters Ash, Ebony, Ganix, Haizea, Amaia, and Asier. X-men characters will most likely appear later, perhaps in the next chapter.

No flames, I take good critism and please review

Chapter One

I've lived in a wasteland my entire life. I was born in it. My younger sister was all that I had with me. My sister, who's around eleven years younger than me, was pretty much the only person I lived for though. My mother died when I was twelve due to sickness, while my father, who had taught me everything he knew, had disappeared while on a hunting trip and never came back. Now I'm travelling farther than me and my family had ever gone. Travelling out of the wasteland and into the dark lands. All of four years later.

Mother and father had warned me about the dark lands. They were horrible, filled with the sorrow and despair of the dead. Fires there raged, spreading far and wide, able to go on for days on end without ceasing. Rain was rare, a treat that never lasted long, even in the wasteland. The beasts in the dark lands were known to be huge, mutated animals from the Old Age.

The Old Age which was dead and gone now, marked by the rusted ruins of buildings and large, powerful structures that probably once stood proudly for the rest of the world to see. They never stood against the Dark Stone, had ruined everything for miles, creating the dark lands. Millions died in the initial blast as the Dark Stone crashed into the earth, yet millions more were ended in the aftermath. Dark clouds had covered the sky for miles, bringing icy cold to the area for months. Food throughout the area grew short in supply, while man turned upon man just to get by each day and feed their family. But the dark lands was were I had to go if me and my sister were to eat and stay alive.

"Broth'r."Ebony whispered, the accent of our family puling through. She was scared, that much I could easily glean from her wavering tone. I was carrying her on my back, though it hurt. The only other things that we had with us were the clothes on our backs, the bandages wrapped around our hands and feet, and the abilities we both had, courtesy of our mother.

It was a gift, that we could do this. We didn't exactly look human anymore. We were, but our appearance would say otherwise. We had long, thin tails that were as long as our body. They looked like cat tails, furred and soft like ribbons. Yet they were also capable of becoming insanely sharp and able to cut through a vast number of things. We were something called mutants, as our father told us. Homo Superior.

We had cat-like eyes, both bright, sapphire blue in color. While Ebony's fur as black as the moonless night sky, mine was dark grey, like ash. Our hands and feet were covered in the same fur, human shaped but having claws and a number of pads. Three on our palms, three on each finger. We had fangs and claws, cat-like feet instead of human ones. We were human, yet we weren't.

"Yes, lil sis?"I asked back, slowing down so she wouldn't be jostled so much by my own movements. She was only five years old and yet looked as if she were only three.

"Why are we goin' ta the da'k lands? Ya sa'd it was suppos'd ta be really da'k an' sc'ry ther'."I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment while I thought, then opening them again as I answered her question.

"We ne'd food, Eb'ny. We ne'd it yet food in the was'eland is gettin' harder an' harder to fin'. The da'k lands, 'ven tho they're dang'rous, will have the food we need."I tried to explain our situation as simply as possible. It wasn't only about food. It was about getting through the dark lands to the shore, and following it down to the south lands, a place that was rumored to have some semblance of society compared to the bandits of the wasteland. Having food from creatures and plants that weren't twisted, mutated, and having clean running water instead of murky water that would make any normal person sick to their stomach.

"T'e monsters won't get us tho, rig't broth'r?"Ebony had asked him this a few times after her first run in with a huge four eyed wolf. Then again, all of the monsters were huge now, large with multiple eyes or ears or both. Glowing yellow or amber eyes that were milky, glazed and sightless. I gave a small smile back, one sad yet hopeful.

"No, lil sis. T'ey won' get ya. Ah promise."

"Lets go!"A booming voice shouted as many people were bustling around. These people belonged to a tribe in the south lands, one that was filled with both humans carrying the mutant gene, humans, and active mutants alike. They were perhaps the only tribe who allowed such diversity like this. Humans and mutant children alike were running around, playing with each other as the adults moved about. One group was coming back from a hunting trip, one that was successful.

The one that had spoken was the leader of the group, an adult who carried the mutant gene, but had no abilities or different features to indicate that it was active. He was tall and had great senses, despite not having them for a power. The rest of the hunting party was a mix of mutants and humans, like the rest of the tribe.

"Ganix!The leader of the hunting party turned to see his chief, Asier, and his wife, Amaia. Ganix smiled in greeting at the two, only turning his attention away from them to motion for the rest of the hunting party to move on with their kill. Today they'd brought in not only barley fro the fields, which had been growing throughout the winter, but they'd managed to hunt down a few good deer.

They didn't want to use the chickens or goats just yet, not when the past winter had been so harsh. The tribe had been struck with sickness, and now there were only about two hundred twenty where there were previously three hundred and fifty. One of the victims that the sickness had claimed had been Amaia's sister, Hilargi, leaving her niece, Haizea, alone with her aunt and uncle.

"Yes, chief? Is ther' somethin' that you ne'd me ta do?"The man asked.

Asier was one of the mutants in the tribe, his wife, Amaia, was human. Asier had the ability to move through solid objects, a trait that the tribe usually associated with ghost-like mutants. Amaia's niece, Haizea, also was a mutant, being able to teleport to different places as long as she knew where she was going.

"Ys, Ganix. Ther's be'n somethin' moving around the edge of the dark lands for the past few months now. I've been keepin' an eye on it, and it'd be'n growin' restless as of late. Ah ne'd you ta get some people, strong people, together and get rid of the blasted creatures. We don' ne'd anymore deaths t'is year."Ganix narrowed his eyes at the thought that something would ever dare try to harm his tribe, his family and extended family even if they weren't all by blood. Asier had spoken low in almost a whisper, which meant no one else but his wife, maybe Haizea, knew about this. This made him worry and Ganix did not want his chief to worry.

Ah'll ge' on ta it rig't now, chief. Don' worry 'bout a thin'."Ganix murmured back, fists clenched. He'd show those twisted dark creatures what pain really felt like, because no one in their right mind would mess with his family. Not while he was still breathing.

Haizea frowned as she stared out the window to the house that she and her aunt and uncle lived in. Her aunt, Amaia, would be having twins in three months so not only were there daily activities going about, but there was preparation for the heirs, a party that would be thrown for them when they were born. Usually the only parties you had were fro the year after you were born and onward, but these two kids would be an exception to that unspoken rule.

The girl, who was about fifteen years of age, didn't know what to think. They'd be her nieces, or nephews, or both, and she couldn't hate them. It wasn't like her, even if they got all the attention these days. They weren't even born yet, which was, she thought admittedly, the very reason why her aunt and uncle were so focused on them.

Would they be mutants? Their father certainly was a powerful one, yet their mother was completely human. Then again, both of Haizea's parents had been human, yet she had turned out to be a mutant. Perhaps her father carried the gene, not that she'd know him. He'd left for another tribe, another woman when Haizea was only two, leaving her alone with her mother. Haizea blinked, turning around as she heard her aunt and uncle walk through the door, and her uncle looked...tired. A kind of weary tiredness that she'd never seen before, and she hoped that she'd never have to see again.

Haizea's face twisted into a frown, wondering what this was all about.

"Wha's goin' on? A'nt? Unc'e?" She asked, her tone filled with worry seeing as her uncle had just now collapsed into the wooden chair in the kitchen. "E's somethin' w'ong?"

Amaia turned to her niece, the woman's own worry suppressed in her body lanuage but still shining clear as day through her eyes. "Nothin's w'ong, Ha'zea. Nothin's w'ong." She murmured, running a hand through her husband's hair. "Ya unc'e e's jus' worr'ed 'bout ta shado' cre'tures. T'ey are growin' res'less." The woman's accent, one that everyone here had, grown stronger as she said this, layering her voice with her emotion while she spoke.

Haizea's frown deepened as she thought. She was fifteen now, only a year away from being a woman and being courted by the men her age or the year ahead of her. It was tradition, and one that they all upheld. There would be a festival, seeing as most of the children in the tribe were born around the same time in spring, the festival would be a time where they'd dance and sing in celebration for having reached adulthood. A festival where the men would court the women openly, fighting each other in contests if more than one liked the same woman, drinking wine till they could barely stand and the girls had to hold them up.

Yet she didn't like anyone in the tribe. Strength was not all that she valued, like some girls. She didn't need protection either. She could hold her own or at least get away from a fight, seeing as she could teleport. Yet her aunt and uncle wanted her to find someone. They didn't pressure her, but they and everyone else expected her to and that was more than enough pressure for her.

Haizea hopped off her seat at the windowsill and walked over to the kitchen table. Her aunt had moved from her uncle's side to begin preparing dinner. Haizea slid into the seat across from her uncle, tapping her fingers in a rhythm on the top of the table. Asier blinked, taking in the sound of the music, and promptly began adding in his own sound to the "tap orchestra".

Amaia laughed lightly as she hummed along, a grin on her face and her steps light.

"I swear." She said, pausing. "We are perhaps the most musical family in this tribe. Besides the Lyrics of course. But they've been a musical mutant family for generations." Haizea nodded her head in agreement, but raised an eyebrow when she saw her uncle smirking at her.

"W'at?" She asked.

"They have a son that's only a year older than you.." He trailed off purposefully. Haizea felt heat rushing up to her ears and was pretty sure they were beat red. She heard her aunt laughing fully at this.

"UNC'E!"

"Asier, don't tease the poor girl. She'll marry who she chooses."

Asier rolled his eyes. "Knowing her she'd get married when she's twenty-five and that is far too long.

"UNC'E!"

I gritted my teeth as me and my sister reached the edge of the dark lands. Ebony was staring wide eyed at the landscape that was laid out before us in fear, her small body quivering and her tail lashing about. Thankfully she was still aware enough that it didn't accidentally sharpen.

Ebony and I both agreed that we should take a break, sitting down next to an abandoned car and resting. Well, I was while Ebony ran around playing with whatever she could get her hands on.

"Ash! Ash! Lo'k!" I opened one eye, several minutes after trying to take a nap my sister had woken me up. Both eyes were open in seconds due to what I was currently seeing. Will-o-the-wisps. Hundreds of them floating and dancing around in the air surrounding us both. Ebony had moved o sit beside me, staring in awe at the orbs of fiery light. Blues, red, blueish white and yellow. All dancing as if we weren't there, putting on a light show for us to see.

"Wow." I whispered, barely making a sound as I watched. I didn't want to scare them away. They may be the only good thing we'd ever see from here on out. Besides, I never thought anything good would exist so close to the dark lands. Perhaps I was wrong.