~Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men. ~

~Chapter One~

It was always the fear of going to sleep; the fear of dreaming. When she slept, she was plagued by the dead; spirits all howling in her head. She couldn't see anything; she was all alone in the swirling abyss of darkness. It was like she could feel the darkness crushing in on her. Faintly, she could hear voices calling her name. It was so quiet she could have just been imagining it.

"Lilia, Lilia…."

Her eyes snapped open. She sat up quickly as her breathing sped up. She couldn't see anything; it was all pitch black. She began to hyperventilate and was quickly spiraling into hysteria when a male voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Lilia, it's all right; you need to calm down…"

She shook her head and blinked a few times, and when she went to get up, everything was dry again. Confused and a little scared, she proceeded to get ready. She threw on a band T-shirt, some shorts, and ran a brush through her hair. With that, she unlocked and opened the door; and instead of the boy who had been calling her, she ran into one of the attendants that worked at the orphanage.

"Miss Lilia, you are waking up awful late. Sleeping in again are we?"

Lilia just glared at the older woman; and she returned the withering look.

"Can it be that you have still not learned your lesson? What a shame; I suppose we must teach you again how inappropriate it is to sleep this late."

"You mean in what way I should be punished today. In case you forgot, today is our 'day off', so there will be no potato peeling or chores for me today. In any case, if that's all, I'll just be on my way."

"Wait right there, I haven't said you can go yet!"

"Oh, my apologies; but I really just don't care." Lilia walked away and scoffed at the incredulous look crossing the woman's face. When she got outside, she began to run; and she continued running until she reached two other girls. "Melissa, Teresa; how are you two awake already?" The girls laughed and Melissa hugged Lilia as a greeting.

"Don't tell me you forgot already!"

Lilia shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows together. "What is it that I was supposed to remember?" Teresa sighed and shook her head.

"We were going to go back to that place. You know, sneak off again?"

After a moment, Lilia's eyes sparked with remembrance. "Oh, right; I packed my bag the day we discussed it. I just have to get back to my room to grab it." At that, Melissa looked concerned.

"You know they won't let us back inside until afternoon, unless it's for an emergency."

Lilia smirked, "When has that ever stopped me? Teresa, you come in with me and cover me; Melissa, wait outside my room, by the big tree." The two girls nodded and departed. Lilia quietly opened the door and snuck in with Teresa following closely behind. They made it up one flight of stairs before Teresa shoved Lilia around the corner. Suddenly, Teresa started wobbling around, clutching her head. Lilia saw an attendant walking up to her.

"What is your name and what are you doing in here? Don't you know that during this time you are supposed to be outside?"

"Yes I know, but my head really hurts; I was just wanting to go lay down in my room for a while."

The young woman wavered for a moment.

"Well, all right; I suppose this once I can allow it. Don't lollygag getting to your room, though."

"Oh, no ma'am; it won't take me long,"

A nod and a few wobbles later, Teresa and Lilia were back to moving silently. Up one more flight of stairs and into the room they went. As Lilia grabbed her bag, she began to laugh. Teresa shook her head and leaned against the wall.

"What on earth is so funny that you would be laughing at a time like this?"

"I don't know how they always fall for your little acts. I guess you just aren't enough of a trouble maker for them to not trust you." Teresa opened her mouth to say something; but before she had the chance, they heard footsteps going down the hall. "C'mon hurry, out the window; you first Teresa." Teresa opened the window and jumped out onto the nearby tree. Lilia threw her bag down to Melissa, who caught it. Then, she also jumped onto the tree and began working her way down. By the time both their feet touched the ground, they heard the door open. The girls were good at moving fast do to their little adventures. The three of them quickly moved to the back of the property. They had snuck out so many times in the past that they had figured out the best way to leave without being noticed. They would move the loose stones in the wall and make a hole big enough for themselves to fit through. Then Teresa would go through and Lilia would pass her the bag. Melissa would be next and Lilia last. After Lilia went through, they moved all but one smaller stone back in place. The small hole they left was just to make sure they would be able to get back in with little difficulty. They turned to the forest behind the house and ran in. Melissa had made a map to their discovery. It was a little clearing with a small cave nearby. There was a small spring in the center. They were nearly out of breath by the time they got there. Lilia and Teresa walked over to the cave while Melissa sat by the water. The two girls kneeled and prepared to replenish their stock.

"All right; what kind of stuff did we get this time?"

Lilia opened up the backpack and began pulling items out of it. "This time I was able to grab more drawing paper, some notebooks, another lighter, a box of matches, a box of pencils, and today's lunch." Teresa nodded, scanning over the inventory.

"Not a bad addition to the loot."

With that she grabbed food for herself and Melissa and walked to the other side of the spring. Lilia stayed by the cave and looked over the supplies they had gathered. They had been stocking the cave for months with supplies. The whole thing began the third time or so they had snuck out. The three of them immediately agreed that it would make a perfect meeting place. So they began occasionally grabbing things that would not be easily missed. Just little things that there was a surplus of and that would make life a bit more convenient. Once every couple of weeks, they would go out and restock the cave. The three girls had it in their minds that if they ever felt they were treated badly enough, they could use the stock as supplies to run away. However; none of them wanted to be rash. The orphanage may not have been great, but it was still a warm bed and a plenty of meals. Lilia smiled at their success in the matter and proceeded to eat her own lunch. Teresa and Melissa went over to sit with Lilia as she pulled out a deck of cards. They sat playing for a while, and Lilia leaned back against a tree. "I don't want to go back. It's not as if they'll let us stay for much longer anyway. I'll be seventeen in a couple months, and they kick you out at eighteen; so what's the point?" The other two girls didn't say anything for a while. Teresa was the first one to look up.

"So don't go back, then. There's enough stuff here for you to take that will keep you going for a while. You're good at taking care of yourself; but, we all know Melissa wouldn't do well. She's just too timid and nervous; and I couldn't leave her all alone. It might be better for you to leave, though; you get treated worse than a lot of us."

Lilia just sat there, thinking it over. She actually had the opportunity to leave; the opportunity to leave and never go back. She cracked a smile and stood up. "I hope you two won't miss me too much." At that, both Teresa and Melissa looked up at her with sad but knowing expressions. The sat and watched as Lilia began putting things into the backpack. When she had everything she thought she would need, she turned back to the other girls. "I'll stay for a little longer, but only until you leave." So they sat back down and tried to come up with light conversation. All of the sudden, they was a startling amount of rustling coming from the other side of the clearing. The girls stopped their chatter and turned to see what it was. One of the orphanage administrators and two police men appeared. The three girls stood up quickly.

"Well, well, well; look what we have here; three girls trying to run away?"

She looked over at the cave.

"The items they stole should be in there."

One of the men went over and looked around the cave. The girls stood frozen, except for Lilia who was discreetly nudging the backpack further behind the tree. The police men looked at the girls and slowly walked closer.

"Now girls, if you quietly come with us there won't be any problems. We just want to take you back to the house."

No one moved for what seemed like forever. Then, Melissa slowly took step toward the officers. Teresa jerked with surprise.

"Melissa what are you doing?"

She was shaking and looked like she was about to cry.

"I can't afford to be tossed out of another place, and neither can you. If we mess up again, they could send us to someplace worse."

With that she turned and went off with one of the officers. Teresa looked torn; she kept glancing back and forth between the way out and the officer. The officer moved forward and gently grabbed her arm. She flinched back, but didn't fight as he pulled her away from the clearing. Before they left, he turned back to look at Lilia.

"Now you wait here, we'll be right back."

The administrator watched them go and waited for the sounds to diminish before turning back to Lilia with a smile.

"Oh don't worry about them. Of course they will be sufficiently punished, but I know you were the ringleader behind this incident. "

She paused, pretending to think; while doing so, she began to walk towards Lilia

"Now, what should we do with you? I don't think mere chores would do the trick this time."

Lilia backed away; she knew she looked like a cornered animal at this point.

"Stay away from me; I'm not going back."

"Oh dear, you don't have a choice."

She snarled out the last part and pulled handcuffs out of her pocket. She had probably gotten them off one of the officers. Lilia prepared to fight, until she realized that she had been backed up against the stone wall of the cave. When the administrator lunged for Lilia, she threw up her hands in defense and closed her eyes. Suddenly, everything went quiet. Lilia felt a gentle whisper of air on her face. It was silent a moment more; until the attendant let out a bloodcurdling shriek. Lilia's eyes snapped open and it took all she had not to scream herself. In front of her was a woman in an old fashioned dress. She had her arms stretched out; as if she was blocking the path the attendant had been taking for Lilia. The scary part was that you could almost see completely through her! After a moment, the woman disappeared; it was almost as if she just faded away. The attendant was sitting on the ground shaking. She looked at Lilia with a mixture of disgust and fear.

"What are you?

She ran past the woman and grabbed the backpack as she past. She continued running into the woods. As she left the clearing, she heard the officers enter the area. The fear of being forcefully taken back fueled her even more. She didn't know where she was going or what she would do. At that moment, she wasn't even sure what she was more afraid of; others, or herself.

~Well there's chapter one! As always I'm sorry if it is boring, but it is kind of a background and setup chapter. I hope you liked it and I would appreciate feedback. ~