Chapter 1 Life's Little Surprises

Onyx POV

Logan was gone. Dove was in school and everything was slow. I mean really slow. I had nothing to do, ever since they'd decided I wasn't such a good teacher after all. Hey, they're the idiots who thought it'd be "safe" for me to teach health.

Yeah, I wasn't gonna be invited to teach any time soon.

But I didn't like not doing anything, so I volunteered to help out with the littler kids. I hated it and loved it at the same time. I loved it because I was going out and rescuing kids like Dove who didn't have any other options, and I hated it because these kids were in the situations to begin with.

I'd thought about going away like Logan had, but I enjoyed my job. The professor seemed to know when I was getting stir crazy the most. He'd given me enough assignments to keep my interest up, but I was getting bored.

That, and I really wanted to hit somebody.

That's when I'd learned about the danger room. It was like a simulator of anything you could think of. It was pretty kick butt, if you ask me. It also trained me not to use as many of my senses. Computers didn't have smells, and the sounds weren't exact. I'd been training harder in the last few months than I had in a long time.

The dreams had come back too. I remembered more than Logan did, but there was still a lot missing. There were experiments, but I'd mostly been kept in a cage. I remember crying and screaming… and a voice. I couldn't remember who, but I knew it was directly linked to the experiments. And that smell.

It was the reason I hated hospitals, the med room and anywhere else that was too clean. It brought back not memories, but feelings that I'd had. If I hadn't gotten out when I did, I had no doubt I'd be the next "test subject". The professor knew, but he didn't ask questions. Jean, on the other hand….

I don't know what was up with her. She seemed a bit more… advanced lately. Her powers were definitely growing and I'd been hearing whispered conversations from Scott that her powers were causing problems.

Either way, I was completely…relaxed. I know, it was a dangerous place for me to be. And that is completely why I totally didn't expect anything out of the ordinary when the Professor called me to his office. I should have noticed something was up when practically everyone was in the Professor's office, and then some.

I did notice, however, one thing I never wanted to smell, or see again…Rogue. "You."

I'm surprised that Jean stopped me in time. She held me back with a force field and I glared at her. How had she gotten this powerful without my notice? Rogue's fear hit me in a wave. I had a look on my face a mixture of a grin and disgust. "What's the matter? Scared now that you're all alone?"

She blinked up, still scared. She put on a brave front. "You still can't touch me."

My laugh was more like a bark. "Please. There are plenty of ways to hurt you without touching…"

Her eyes widened as I lunged again, surprising both Jean and Rogue. The latter who jumped backwards, shrieking. I paused. "You're different."

She looked at me cautiously, trying to gauge whether I would attack again. Her scent was a bit off, different from before. "Mystique?"

The professor shook his head. "Miss Onyx, if you would allow time for explanation, you will see Miss Marie is not the person she was."

"Thank Goodness." My eyes shot to her. Even her accent was different. Before it was more fake, exaggerated. Now it was a subtle, soft southern accent. Being from the south, I could spot a fake anywhere. I'd known hers had been fake before, so what was different?

"Please, have a seat…"

Ororo, Jean and Scott took a chair. I remained standing, facing 'Marie'. "Please begin."

"Well, my power means I can absorb another person's… well, life force really." She grimaced. "With mutants, I can take on their powers for a while." She didn't meet my eyes. "But when this happens I also absorb their personality."

Huh? She looked up at the professor who nodded in encouragement. She continued. "When I absorb a lot of a certain personality, it can influence my own. When I was on the road, I came into contact with some very… unfriendly characters."

Her voice raised in fear. For the first time I felt a pang of sympathy for the girl.

"Obviously they weren't able to hurt me much, but that didn't stop them from trying… especially when they found out I was a mutant. They thought I was hurting them on purpose. They wanted to teach the 'little mutant' a lesson." She shuddered visibly. Her next words were directed to me as she looked up. "Like you said, there are plenty of ways to hurt somebody without touching them…"

I shifted on my feet uncomfortably. Ororo's mouth had dropped out of shock. "Then when they finally figured out that I didn't have a chance but to absorb the life force of a person, they decided to use that to their advantage. They made me drain energy from their enemies. Bad people… very bad people."

She looked around as we all started drawing conclusions. "The more anger and hatred I absorbed, the more my personality changed. I couldn't help myself… they took over and I couldn't do anything to stop it…I finally woke up, but I was in prison. The people were gone, but I still had all my memories. The professor visited me and helped me through everything. I'm so sorry for what I did."

She looked up, meeting all of in us the eye. I frowned. "So when you were working for Magneto…"

"Miss Marie didn't have any choice. She is truly sorry."

Jean frowned. "What happened to have her change this much?"

The professor nodded towards me. "I believe that Miss Onyx had something to do with that."

"Excuse me?"

Rogue/Marie nodded. "Yes! Because of you, I was able to overcome the others! You were so strong and you didn't let them hurt me." She stared at me with thankful eyes. "Thank you."

I ducked my head down. "I'm just glad you're ok, kid."

"But it wasn't just that. You're morals, your sense of honor…it gave me purpose and changed my mind set. I still have you in my head, a bit. It must be your healing factor, because your presence hasn't faded in the slightest."

I frowned. I didn't like the idea of somebody else running around with my memories. "Um, professor? I'm not trying to be rude, but I'm not too crazy about Lil Miss Marie here knowing my thoughts."

The professor nodded. "I understand the concern. Marie has promised not to compromise any of the information."

She nodded. "Besides, the Onyx in my head isn't too forthcoming with information either. I won't do anything to hurt ya. I promise."

I raised an eyebrow. She seemed honest, and I could usually smell a lie. "So what are you doing now?"

The professor cut in. "Marie is still under a watchful eye. Despite her pleas, the court is not so forgiving to… mutant 'criminals'."

Marie blushed. "However, they are willing to let her out on parole. She will be guarded until deemed fully recovered. I still believe she is under threat from those who would like to use her for their own purposes. She will need to be trained and protected."

I crossed my hands over my chest. "And just who is gonna be doing this?"

"I believe you would be the ideal choice."

My mouth dropped open in shock. "Are you joking? Do you want her to die? I can't train her. The last time I tried that with Dove, she almost killed herself. And I'm not a teacher. Have you forgotten the health class incident?"

Marie smirked "Oh I woulda paid money ta see that." I did a double take. She'd sounded creepily like me.

"Oh, that's ten times of freaky."

"I told yah, I have part of your personality. I kinda like it. You got a great sense of humor."

I rolled my eyes. "Flattery doesn't really do it for me."

She shrugged. "That's what she said."

I looked at her before bursting out laughing. "Alright, I'll do it." I glanced at her. Maybe this won't be as terrible as I'd thought.

Jean and Scott stood up at the same time. "Professor, you can't be serious."

"Jean, I know what I'm doing." He turned to me. "Please show Miss Marie to her room. I believe there's an extra one across from yours."

I nodded. "Sure thing. C'mon kid. You hungry? Prison food sucks."

Ororo bit back a chuckle. Jean rolled her eyes. Marie nodded. "Yah, it really does. I don't got much stuff. We can stop by the kitchen first."

I nodded. "What are you hungry for?"

"Anything with meat."

I glanced at her. "We're gonna get along great."