Please review, and let me know if this is ok, all right? I'm doing some serious fretting right about now, so hurry up and press the little purple button!!!

(A/N at end of chappie)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Seattle, Washington

~I used to have a family. I used to be normal. Hell, I used to be a cheerleader.~ A brunette teenager looking way too tired for being so young announces to the cook that she's taking a fifteen minute break. He replies with a gruff, "Well, hurry the hell up!" She sighs, walking outside the bar and into the back alley.

She sits there, watching the sun set and rocking back and forth softly, her outfit getting dirty but she doesn't care. She's lost in the memories of the past, the voices of those better left forgotten.

~You're fat.(one of the popular girls)~ she stands up shakily, but then falls to her knees, grabbing at the brick wall with a death grip. ~You're not normal...Get out of my house, mutant scum!(her mother)~ she throws up over and over, feeling dirtier by the second as the onslaught of memories fails to stop. ~You take my mutant baby and get the hell out of here, trash! (Her mother)~

After getting rid of everything that had been in her stomach, she takes out a pocketknife, watching the light of the moon dance off of it. She lifts up her shirt sleeve, readying herself for the pain. She slices into her forearm, leaning her head against her uncut arm, letting the blood drip slowly onto the dirt and gravel beneath it, already bloodstained from countless other times that the girl has cut herself.

~I know it's wrong and stupid, but I need to feel. That's why I do it. The need to not feel numb overwhelms me. I guess it's the same with the whole eating thing, too. Whatever. I can do whatever the hell I want. I don't have anybody to worry about me, anyway.~ She stares at the stars, looking for a shooting one.

~Star light,

Star bright,

First star I see tonight,

I wish I may,

I wish I might,

Have the wish

I wish tonight...

I wish I wasn't Tru Lynne Montgomery.~

The blood drips to the ground, a silent penance for being different. An offering to whoever decides who is a mutant or not, that they had made a mistake, and to take all of it- the power, the hurt, the pain- away.

~Take me away~

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"Tru! Get your ass back in here! You've been on break for ten minutes, and we're swamped!" Billy yells through the door angrily, huffing back to the kitchen, spatula in hand. Tru rolls her eyes. ~Ask for a fifteen minute break and get a seven and a half one.~ she thinks, checking her watch. She stands up slowly, feeling a lightheaded rush as she stands up, her head spinning lightly in circles. She walks into the bar, the smell of grease hitting her like a lead pipe. She leans against the bar, steadying herself against the nausea that overwhelms her.

"Hey, you alright?" a attitude-filled voice asks her, sounding concerned. Tru looks up, her eyes full of remorse.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there." she apologizes to the black girl with frizzy hair, not wanting to get in trouble with the boss. ~God knows I need the money from this job.~ "What do you want?"

"Original Cindy asked you if you were all right, suga." she tells Tru, who looks at her like she's crazy, obviously not used to having people ask if she's ok. "But I will take a pitcher of beer for my fools."

"I'm fine." Tru assures her. But, that doesn't work, and she figures that this Original Cindy is a good character read. OC gives her a scrutinizing look, her eyes catching on Tru's sleeve as she hands her the pitcher. "Really, I'm ok. Thank you for asking, though." Tru tells her, and OC nods, walking away to a table where a black-haired woman is talking and laughing to a blonde-haired man, and one man looks like he's about to pass out at any given minute.

She fills orders for a while, trying to ignore the happiness of the people around her. Then something catches her eye. A little girl, about five years old, runs through the bar, her violet eyes wide and playful as she scurries past OC's table and heads straight to Tru. ~I told her to stay home!~

Tru bends down, picking the little girl up with surprising strength as she plows into her, arms open wide in an adoring hug. "Hi, o-sister-of-mine!" she says happily, not noticing the many odd looks the pair's getting, or the death glare that Billy's giving her.

Tru carries her around the bar, motioning to the raven-haired girl from OC's table, who's waiting at the bar for a refill, to wait a minute. She sets the girl down, smoothing her fiery red hair down and bending down so she can look her in the eye. "Jessie, what did I tell you to do today?" she asks, and the little girl thinks about it for a minute, toying with the hem of her t-shirt.

"Um....well, you told me to have a good day, and that you had to work late tonight, so I should stay in the room and not let anyone in." she says, and Tru nods, knowing that the little girl will get to what's needed to be said sooner or later. "And I didn't, but the mean, scary guys came, and I didn't open the door, but they opened it, but I didn't, and I hid, and then I went through Ms. Kilmore's wall like you said, and they had guns and it was scary and I'm scared." she rambles, smushing the words all together in an almost professional manner. Tears fill her eyes, and Tru pulls her into a hug.

"Oh, baby, you all right?" she asks, not noticing the scrutinizing looks that the woman and blonde-haired man, who's now next to her, are giving them. Jessie nods. "Did you get hurt?" she asks, and the little girl shakes her head. Relief shows on Tru's face, her brows less knit together now. "Did you have to...be 'special'?" she asks, and Jessie shakes her head no, lowering her eyes to the floor.

"Jessie, look at me, ok?" Tru tells her, and the girl lifts her gaze to meet her sister's. "You did great today, honey. I'm so sorry I had to leave you alone, but I need to make money to stay at the motel. But don't worry; I'll always keep you safe, all right?" Tru tells her, and Jessie nods, smiling a little.

"I'll take care of you, Tru!" she announces proudly. "Can I have pizza?" she asks, forgetting entirely the importance of the previous conversation, her entire tiny mind focused on whether to opt for pepperoni or sausage.

"Sure. Just let me get the orders, 'kay?" Tru says, moving to the two people who had been watching them so intently. "So sorry, family crisis." she tells them, and they shrug. The man glances down to the little girl, who's staring up at him curiously. "So, another pitcher?" she asks, and the woman nods.

"Hi! I'm Jessie, and I'm four, and I like pizza and fire." she announces, and Tru groans.

"I'm Alec. I'm twenty, and I like pizza and women." he tells her, and the woman next to him rolls her eyes.

"Excuse my little pyro here. It's almost physically impossible for her to stop talking." Tru explains, smiling slightly at the little girl, who waves. "Oh, it's Tru, by the way."

"Max, and excuse my little womanizer over here." she tells Tru, hitting Alec on the shoulder without even looking, with amazing accuracy. "It's been proven physically possible for him to shut up." she says, and the women laugh.

Jessie and Alec look at each other, now both mad. "Nuh uh!" they both cry angrily, glad to find consolation somewhere. "I bet I can stay quiet for five whole minutes!" Jessie says, and Alec nods. Max and Tru glance at each other, both nodding and trying to hold back laughs.

Two minutes later, both Jessie and Alec are bored with trying not to talk, and are silently playing rock paper scissors, with glances to the clock only every two seconds or so. "I'm bored." Jessie tells Alec, and he nods.

"Yeah. Whoever came up with silence in the first place?" he asks, and the little girl shrugs, squealing with delight as Tru places a pepperoni pizza in front of her.

"Feel free to dig in. Five year olds have pretty tiny stomachs." Tru invites Max and Alec. Max, who's quickly warming up to Tru, nods a thanks and grabs a slice, and Alec grabs one, too. He looks at Tru thoughtfully.

"You know, I heard you talking with Max about how men suck when Jessie and I were making big with the 'not talking.' I have a friend, Biggs, who you might really like..." he tells her, his green eyes sparkling mischievously.

"I don't like boys. They're icky, and they smell...ew!" Jessie says, her face contorting in disgust. Then she forgets about that, and goes back to eating her pizza, peeling off the pepperoni and placing it carefully on a napkin- you know, the old 'best for last' routine.

"I second that." Tru says, making a face that resembles Jessie's.

"I third." Max says, and Alec places his hand over his heart.

"Ladies, ladies, you obviously aren't familiar with the gentlemanly way of my sex." he says, looking at them with what seems to be great sympathy. Tru snorts. "Biggs, come help me show these ladies how well the male half of the species can treat these lovely specimens." he calls his very handsome friend over, who grins.

"Men are dogs. It'd be better if you came up to us, sniffed our butts, and peed on us." she says, and Max laughs. Alec's hopeful face falls, and Biggs just laughs. "At least then it wouldn't be so confusing."

"You're preaching to the choir, sista." Original Cindy says, wanting to see what the commotion at the bar is all about. "You sure you don't play for the all-girls team?" she asks, pretty sure that she pegged this chica at a hetero.

"Most definitely. I don't swing that way." she says, and Original Cindy swears, then blushing at the look Jessie gives her. ~Note to self, don't swear in front of children.~ Tru sighs. "I'm just not good with the opposite sex. I get red, and I can usually make a few vowel sounds, but then I have to go away." she says, and Biggs and Alec look at each other and stifle laughs. ~She's doing pretty damn well with me.~ Biggs muses, drawn to this girl.

"Come on, you can't be that bad." Cindy says, and Max nods. Tru laughs.

"Freshman year I tripped down a flight of stairs in front of the entire football team." she groans, and they all laugh. ~I should really think before I talk.~ she mentally reprimands, but glad that she's meeting new people at the same time.

"Um, Tru? I think the little one's either dead or extremely tired." Original Cindy tells her, and she glances down, to where the little girl's asleep in the midst of her pepperoni pile. Tru looks at the clock.

"Well, it's pretty much closing time, anyway. I can walk her home and put her to bed." she muses, scooping the little girl into her arms.

"You walk home in post-Pulse Seattle?" Cindy asks incredulously. Tru nods.

"We just live at Oakleaf Motel. It's pretty close." she shrugs, not seeing the big deal. ~I can always blow them up.~

"I can walk you." Biggs says, noticing how everyone tenses up at the mention of a bad part of town.

"Thanks, but you don't have you. Really, I do it every other night." she says, and the look of shock on OC's face is even more than when she found out about a certain someone's gladiator dreams.

"I'd just feel better knowing you're ok." he says. "You all right with that?"

"Sure. Just let me tell Billy that I'm leaving." she says, and he nods. She turns to the others, smiling brightly. "It was really nice meeting y'all. Hope to see you again."

With the assurances of many future nights at the bar together and tired goodnights, the others part. And, a few minutes later, as lights all around the city are going out, so do Biggs and Tru, who's carrying Jessie.

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A/N: so, you likey? This is the first chapter, if you don't like, tell me and I'll fix it. I try to be really good about putting in your requests. luv ya! REVIEW *coughsubliminalmessagecough*

To all of you who read Lucy the Mutant- I just updated, but I don't think it showed up on the boards, for whatever reason. Check it out, tell me whatcha think- HUGE surprise this chapter! Hope you like it!

I traded the characters from an Xmen fic I was trying out for this baby, so I hope ya like it. I just couldn't get into the other one. Sorry.

DISCLAIMER: not mine, even though I put it on my Christmas list. Hey, I never got that pony, either....*pouts*

luv ya!

Molly Jeane