Disclaimer—I don't own any of this stuff.
Prologue
In the year nineteen eighty-nine a baby girl was born. The month was May, and the dark night of her birth was humid. The mother of said baby girl spent nine grueling hours in labor, her body writhing with every contraction, hoarse screams escaping her dry lips as she struggled to beat the pain from taking total control. The house the child was born in was a rundown shack with holes in the roof and plywood nailed across the windows. It was located down a forgotten dirt road with nothing else to be seen for miles in any direction. The place and the occasion were truly secrets belonging to none other than the night and the two souls within the shack—three if one counted the screaming baby born into such a world as this.
Outside the state of Mississippi the world was quickly changing. Fate was drawing lines and weaving lives together faster than a spider could spin its web. Fear spread like wildfire as knowledge of mutants became public, causing a political and ethical storm unlike any other ever before seen. Chaos and dissent became the order of the day as positions were built—more than could be counted on a single hand. Everyone had a theory as to the causes, the effects, and the reasoning behind everything mutant. Others had answers, questions, and even plans on what to do next…but none could agree on any one fact.
Yet back on the outskirts of Meridian a new life was just beginning, though it wasn't the beginning anyone would wish for themselves or anyone else close to them.
"You can't keep her; your life is too dangerous to raise a child." The woman's voice was stern and unwavering, forcing the eyes of the new mother upwards.
"She's my daughter!" replied the other woman fiercely.
"She's not like you. She's nothing like you."
"I gave birth to her!"
"She is human, you are mutant. Keeping her is out of the question and you know it."
From the tattered remains of the bed, now soiled with blood and water, the other woman had wide eyes and was clutching her baby close to her chest. "I can't let her go—I've done it once, I refuse to do it again."
"You have done it once, yes," agreed the first woman with a nod of her head, "you will do it now, and you will do it once again. It is your fate, just as it is the fate of this child to be raised by humans."
"But—"
"Do not argue, you know what you must do. But do not make the mistake of thinking this is the last time you will see your daughter, because your paths will merge once again. This will not be the last time you hold her in your arms, I promise."
The mother's eyes moved to study the tiny creature in her arms, her finger brushing the tiny wisp of hair atop the baby's head. Tears developed in her eyes, eventually falling down her cheeks in symmetrical lines. "I cannot just abandon her."
"There is a family not far from here. They are childless, but good people. They will provide a good home for your daughter. I will make sure of it."
It was close to three hours later, at the break of dawn, when the two figures stole into the town of Meridian like thieves in the night. The mother was led to a plain neighborhood where the houses all seemed to resemble one another in color and size. The house the pair of women stopped in front of was nothing spectacular with its large front porch and shuttered windows. With a steady look from the older woman the young mother made her way to the front door of the house, and placed the sleeping babe in her arms down onto a bundle of blankets atop the welcome mat. Her hands wavered atop the child's head before moving up to the door and pounding on it three times. Turning on her heel the woman returned to her friend and the pair disappeared around the side of the house.
The night was still again when the front door was finally pulled open. The man who had opened it glanced around curiously with sleep filled eyes and was about to reenter when the bundle on the floor caught his eye. Bending down he had to blink before he realized that the blankets held a newborn baby fast asleep.
From within the house came the voice of his wife. "Owen, who is it?"
"A baby. Come look, Priscilla—someone left a baby on our doorstep!" murmured Owen with an excited whisper. Priscilla's face was set in a frown as she appeared at the doorway to bend down beside her husband. Her eyes widened as she realized it was in fact a baby that had disturbed their slumber.
"But how?"
"I don't know. Someone just left her here." Owen reached down to pick up the tiny child, blankets and all, in his arms. Almost immediately he could feel himself falling in love with the baby. "I think it's a gift from God, Priscilla. The Good Lord has given us a child like we prayed for—why else would we find one on our doorstep?"
"Shouldn't we call the police or…" Priscilla's voice hesitated as she reached out a single finger to place in the tiny hands of the baby girl. The right thing to do would be to report the child to the authorities in hopes of finding the child's mother and reuniting them, but it was too hard to look past the fact that the child had been left on their doorstep because the mother couldn't care for her.
"I think this here child would have a better chance of survival if she stayed with us," replied Owen with a soft look at his wife. Priscilla needed no more convincing as she reached out for the bundle in her husband's arms, cradling the infant against her chest.
"Marie."
"Huh?"
"Let's call her Marie."
From the side of the house the child's true mother watched as her baby was taken into the house. The moment the door was shut she reemerged into full view, her eyes clouded as she studied the closed door.
"You did what you had to do," said the other woman as she too emerged from the side of the house.
"I expect you to watch her for me until I can return for her. You were right, you know, I can't raise her now—not with so much unfinished business to attend to."
"You have my word; I will watch her like she is my own. You have nothing to fear. That child is as normal as any human can possibly be."
"So you say. We won't be the only ones watching over her. He will be watching, and waiting."
"Then don't screw up."
"I never have before." The young mother gazed back at the house one last time before turning away. "I'll be in touch, Irene."
"And I will be waiting." Irene listened as her friend's footsteps disappeared down the street before heading in the opposite direction. "I have been waiting for a long time. The war has only begun."
A/N—This story is a combination of the movies, evolution series, and comics. As of May 16, 2007 this is the revised version of the Prologue.