disclaimer: only writing this once. I get nothing from this except cheap thrills.

Prologue

The word was going around that she was a streetrat. Like John was a streetrat. Everyone assumed that they'd be friends, since their powers were so alike. But not so. From the minute she saw and spoke to St John Allerdyce, or Pyro, she had hated him. No one knew why. No one except her. And she wasn't sharing.

----

Chapter 1

I don't want the world to see me

Cause I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am.

These words had never struck her so hard before, as she walked down the hall at Xaviers School for The Gifted. She still didn't understand why she was here, nor did she trust the people who had brought her, claiming that she would be safe here. She didn't think she'd ever feel safe again. Not after watching her sister die, and her dreams along with her. She scrunched her eyes shut as her sisters screams sounded again in her ears, not noticing that the few people in the hallway pressed themselves against the walls as she passed. When she opened them again, flames were dancing in the air in front of her. She blinked, and they disappeared. She sighed. She had thought that she was beyond the stage where she needed to concentrate to keep her powers in her control. Apparently not. She glanced at the door beside her as she passed and sighed again. Lost in her thoughts, she had passed her new room. She turned and stalked back to the right door.

Turning the knob, she found a single room in front of her, with a connecting bathroom. There was dresser, a desk, and a large closet as well. She dumped her small bag of possessions on the floor and sat down on the twin bed. Looking around, she took in the cream and wood panelled walls, undecorated, but with obvious space for personal items. Standing again, she investigated the bathroom. It was small, but contained a set of cabinets, a shower, a toilet, and a sink with a mirror above it. There was already a toothbrush and a set of combs and brushes in the cabinets when she opened them, along with toothpaste and the basic necessities that a girl needed during certain parts of the month. She'd have to tell the people who brought her here that she wouldn't require them. She shut her eyes and shook her head to clear the memories. There was a knocking sound. She looked around, wondering what it was, then realised that there was someone at the door to her room.

When she dragged it open, she found three people her age standing in the hall. Taking them in, she decided that the must be good friends. And the girl with the white streak in her hair and the blond boy with the stunning blue eyes were together. The other boy, with nondescript brown hair and eyes, was flicking a lighter open and shut, an arrogant look on his slightly handsome face. She decided she didn't like him. She eyed them for a moment, then the girl spoke.

"Uh, hi," She stammered. "I'm Rogue. We heard that you were new here, so we came to say hello. This," she gestured to the blond boy, "is Bobby, and the other one is John."

"St John," The brown haired boy corrected. "St John Allerdyce."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "What's your name?" She asked.

"I don't have one."

Rogue's eyes widened. "You must have a name!"

She shook her head. "I gave it up a long time ago." She replied.

The blond boy, Bobby, interrupted. "Is there something you'd like us to call you?" He asked.

She thought for a moment. "I'm partial to Vincent."

John laughed mockingly. "Vincent is a boy's name. You obviously aren't a guy."

"And St John is a holy name. And obviously you ain't no saint." She shot back.

He shrugged as the others gave him disproving looks. "So, what can you do?" Bobby asked.

Vincent raised her hand, fingers curved. When she opened them, a flame sat in her palm. John's eyes widened, and he put his hand out. The flame flickered, drawn towards him. Vincent closed her fingers, and it disappeared. She raised her eyebrow. He stared at her for a moment, then sneered and walked away. Vincent glared after him.

"I'm sorry about him." Bobby said, drawing her attention. "He's not usually like this."

Rogue laughed. "Bobby, don't you see? He's jealous."

Vincent looked at her. Rogue, seeing the question, explained. "He can manipulate fire, but he can't create it."

Bobby smiled at the slightly happier expression on her face. "Well, I'm sure you have stuff to unpack. Dinner's in an hour. See you there?"

Vincent nodded, and went to close the door. She stopped, however, and turned back. "Could you come get me?" She asked. "I don't exactly know my way around."

Rogue grinned. "Sure," she agreed.

Vincent thanked her, then shut the door. What am I going to do for an hour? She wondered, then eyed the empty walls. I wonder where I can get some paint around here...

----

"So, what do you think of her?" Bobby asked Rogue as they went down the hall.

"I like her," Rogue replied. "It's about time that someone gave Johnny a little trouble. No one wants to get on his bad side, so they don't say anything to him, and now he thinks that he can get away with anything."

"I do not," John's voice stated, startling Rogue, as he materialised, seemingly out of nowhere, on Rogue's other side. "I have yet to get away with stealing beer from Professor Stick-up-the-ass."

"John," Rogue squeaked. "You have got to stop doing that. You're going to be the death of me!"

"And," Bobby broke in. "You really shouldn't be drinking beer at all, let alone stealing it from Proffessor Summers!"

"And why not?" John asked indignantly. "I have yet to get so drunk as to set the school on fire."

"Exactly!" Bobby exclaimed. "We're in school. You shouldn't be doing that here."

John raised his eyebrows. "Would it be more acceptable, Drake, if I drank off of school grounds?"

"No." Scott's voice broke in, "And what do you mean, stealing beer from me, Allerdyce?"

John gulped. "Nothing, Proffessor, sir. Just a joke."

Scott regarded him calmly. "Detention, Mister Allerdyce. I assume you know the time and place?"

John nodded, glaring.

"Good." Scott continued on down the hallway. John stared angrily after him. Rogue gave him a pitying look, then turned into her room.

"See you later, guys!"

Bobby and John continued on down the hallway to their shared room. As soon as the door shut behind them, John launched into a rant.

"Another weekend gone! What the hell is wrong with that fucking teacher? Why did I have to agree to go meet the goddamned new girl? This is your fault, Bobby, and I'll never forgive you-"

Sighing, Bobby tuned out, gathered some clothes and went to take a shower.

----

An hour later, Vincent came out of her trance-like state at a knock on the door.

"Come in!" She called. The door opened and Rogue entered, trailed by Bobby. John remained outside. Vincent shot him a glare in return for the one he was giving her, then ignored him. She stepped off the bed as Rogue took in the room around her.

"Wow." Rogue turned, staring at the different shaded red, orange and yellow swirls across the walls around her. "The teachers know you're doing this?"

Vincent nodded. "I spoke to Miss Munroe, and she spoke to Xavier. He gave me permission, as long as I don't put obscenities or inappropriate images on them." She turned, taking in her work. The different shades went well with the cream walls, giving the room the look that it was on fire.

Rogue traced a painted swirl with her gloved finger, but lost it as it twirled into a complicated knot over the bed. "This is really intricate." She noted. "It's amazing."

Vincent smiled. "Thanks. I always like to paint."

Bobby knocked against the open door. "Hello?" He asked. "Boys are hungry!"

"Coming!" Vincent replied, then looked down at herself. Her trashy black jeans were covered in semidry paint, as was her ripped shirt. Rogue smiled.

"We'll wait while you change." She went to go out the door.

"Don't bother." Vincent said. She motioned to her paint splattered clothes. "This is all I've got."

Rogue's eyes went wide. "All you've got?" She repeated.

Vincent nodded.

A militant look came into Rogue's eyes. "Not anymore." She said, and, grabbing Vincent by the hand, dragged her out of the room and down the hall.

----

"News flash, Rogue, you must be suffering from amnesia. This is our room, not yours." John said.

Rogue stopped for a moment and glared. "Too bad." She continued digging through John's dresser, pulling out clothes.

"Hey, what the fuck?" John yelled. "What the hell are you doing?"

Rogue held up a pair of jeans that John had never worn, claiming that they were too girly, and appraised them. She tossed them onto the steadily growing pile beside her. "News flash, John," She teased. "You're the only one close to Vincent's size. You never wear three quarters of this stuff anyway."

John glowered. "They're still mine!" He grabbed Bobby's arm. "Talk some sense into your girlfriend!"

Vincent, ignoring them, was taking in the room. It was easy to tell whose side was whose. One side was strewn with stuff, tshirts and school work, bottles of lighter fluid and cheap deoderant. The other side was clean, the bed made and school work stacked neatly on the desk. There was a line on the floor, where stuff had obviously been kicked back to the cluttered other side of the room. Bobby, seeing her stare, smiled.

"If I have to live with him, I refuse to deal with his mess. The bathroom is the same."

Vincent smirked, and was brought back to reality as Rogue stuffed a pile of clothes into her arms and grabbed another.

"Come on." She said, "Dinner is soon. We'll dump this stuff in your room, you can get changed and we'll go eat."

Vincent and both boys sighed as she was pulled out of the room, and pushed back down the hallway.

----

Five minutes later, Vincent emerged from her bathroom, dressed in jeans and a form fitting shirt. The others were sitting on her bed, talking. Rogue looked up.

"Ha! I knew I could do it! Even with John's horrible sense of style and bad taste in clothes, I have managed to create an outfit!" She held out her hand, and Bobby reluctantly placed a five dollar bill in it. John glared. Rogue beamed. The room filled with an awkward silence. Finally, Bobby stretched.

"Let's go eat."

----

Vincent was still in a stunned state a week later. She felt like she'd been hit by a truck. And a train. And, just for the heck of it, a jet. This time last week, she was trying to figure out how to survive another day on the streets of Manhatten. Today, she had clean clothes, she had friends (Rogue having declared that she was now one of her friends), and she had food, as much of it as she wanted. She felt like she'd explode if she ate another bite. She'd been afraid to eat at first, fearing that someone would take the food away as a cruel joke, but once she'd seen Rogue, her new friend, and more importantly, her new female friend, tucking in, she'd eaten all that she could as fast as she could. John sneered and called her a pig, but she'd ignored him. For some reason that the others couldn't figure out, in their first hours of knowing eachother, Vincent and John had formed a mutual hatred. It might have been the fact that Vincent was wearing his clothes without his permission on John's part, or that she had no other clothes to wear on Vincents part, and was forced to wear the clothes of a guy who didn't use them yet still complained about it. The truth was, John hated her cause he could tell that she hated him, and Vincent hated him cause he reminded her of her past, or, more selectively, someone in her past. Which the conversation was coming dangerously close to.

"So, Vincent," John said mockingly, "What's your story?"

Vincent glared at him, and looked around. Everyone in the six-click (whom Rogue had introduced her to - they consisted of a girl named Jubilee, another named Kitty, a guy named Piotr, but everyone called Peter, and Rogue, John, and Bobby) was staring at her, waiting for her reply.

She shrugged. "The professor picked me up off the streets in Manhatten, after I burned a building down."

"I've been meaning to ask you about something." Rogue stated. "You said that you asked Miss Munroe to speak to Professor Xavier about painting on your walls, right?"

Vincent nodded.

"Well," Rogue paused. "You know you can talk to him yourself, right?"

Vincent froze. Rogue, seeing that she'd hit something, began to apologize.

"No, it's ok." Vincent broke in. "I just, don't trust men."

Everyone paused. Then John began to laugh. "What, because of your time on the streets?"

Vincent nodded slowly. John laughed harder. "I - was a street - kid - too." He gasped between laughs, holding his stomach. "And I - I'm not afraid- afraid of men. You- you must be - a wimp!"

Vincent slammed her fork and knife down, pushed her chair back, and left. John stopped laughing, looking after her. When he looked back, everyone else was glaring at him.

"What?" He asked innocently. "What did I say?"

Rogue reached out and smacked him on the side of the head. "Go talk to her, you idiot!"

John stared at her. "Why? The girl hates me. We know that. What's talking going to do?"

Jubilee broke in. "Didn't you see her face, you ass? She was almost crying! Go talk to her!"

John looked around for support. Both Bobby and Piotr were glaring at him. Sighing, he got up and followed Vincent out of the room.

----

He found her halfway to her room, collapsed on the floor in the fetal position, gasping and shuddering. John froze, then knelt down beside her. When he touched her shoulder, she stopped moving. He rolled her over onto her back. She stared at him out of red, puffy eyes.

"Hey." John whispered.

Vincent pushed herself away from him.

"I didn't mean to make you cry."

She didn't say anything.

Now John was starting to get angry. He'd gone through all the effort of swallowing his pride and coming up here, now she wouldn't even accept his apology? What the fuck was wrong with the girl.

"Sorry, I guess you are just a big wimp. I shouldn't have bothered." He pushed himself upright and turned to go.

"You want to know why I'm really afraid of men?" He froze as her barely heard whisper floated through the air. He turned back, and saw her staring up at him, olive skinned face barely visible through her black hair. He nodded.

She closed her eyes. There was silence for a moment. John was about to say something when something hit him in the face. He stepped back, then realised that it was something she had put into his head.

"Close your eyes." Vincent instructed.

He sat beside her on the floor and did what he was told. Suddenly, the images were there.

An older girl pushed him out of the way of a raging man, taking the hit herself. There was a flash of light and the man was dead on the floor, the girl over him with a knife. Blood dripped off her hand. She dropped the knife and grabbed him, running. He was dragged into a black van. He could hear screams. They were both sitting on the floor of a cell. He ached between his legs. The door opened, and the older girl was dragged out by her hair. The older girl's face covered in blood. Screams echoing. A naked older man approaching, grinning. A pregnancy test showing positive. Blood covered a bathroom. Sudden light. The older girl running with him. Being dragged backwards. Someone had his hair, forcing him to watch as the older girl was raped and murdered. The words "You're next." Flames, crawling everwhere. Bodies burning. A man backing away. A building burning. Running through streets. Sitting and waiting for the next blow to fall-

"STOP IT!" John screamed. His eyes flew open and the images disappeared. He turned to look at Vincent.

She smiled at him. "Now you know..." She whispered. Her eyes closed and she slumped over, unconscious. John, nervous, slipped his arms under her and lifted. It was ridiculously easy. He slid her onto his lap and placed his arms around her as he shouted for Bobby, Piotr, anyone. Even as he waited, he noted how the girl's body fit so well against his. His eyes slid closed.

----

When Piotr and Bobby arrived, followed by the teachers, they found John against the wall, unconscious, with Vincent across his lap, encircled by his arms, also unconscious, her face sallow.

"Piotr, Logan. Take them to their rooms." Storm ordered.

Piotr bent down, trying to lift Vincent out of John's arms. However, John's grip only tightened. Piotr looked up at Storm and shook his head. Storm sighed.

"Take them to her room then."

Piotr nodded and lifted both of them easily. He carried them to Vincent's room, followed by Bobby and Rogue, who had followed them. Through it all, John's arms stayed around Vincent.

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Author's note:

Wow, I really need a life. Hope you enjoyed this. I put it up early, and I don't have anymore written right now. Hopefully, more'll be up soon. Please review. What did you think? Got any ideas? Yes, I know it's weird that a girl has a guy's name. However, the story will get weirder. If possible. It is rather pointless...meh. Tell me what you think of it, how i can change the characters to be more like they are...you know the drill. Thanks for reading!