Disclaimer: I own nothing. I do not own General Hospital and X-men, this is just for amusement purposely only.

Summary: During puberty or in a moment of extreme stress, a mutant's abilities surface for the first time. A situation cause Elizabeth's powers to surface. When it becomes public knowledge, Elizabeth finds out who her true friends really are.

Pairings: Implied Liason

Inspiration: Honestly, X-men: First Class and X-men: Days of Future Past. I have been a huge X-men fan since I was a kid, and I had a thought hit me. What if Elizabeth was a mutant? How would that change things? I'll do several one shots where Elizabeth is a mutant, so keep an eye out for them.

Timeline: 1998 to 2000 (Please forgive any timeline mistakes, I was like seven when this all occurred so it's all a real blur for me since I wasn't an avid watcher back then. I was more into Power Rangers)

Songs that helped inspire me:

"Mad World" by Gary Jules

"Smile (Charlie Chaplin)" by Glee Cast

"Here's to Us" by Halestorm

"After the Storm" by Mumford and Sons

SURVIVOR

by ThroughtheMirrorDarkly

PART 1 of 2

"Lose Yourself"

The night had started off so promising.

Her grams had helped her do her hair, and her make up. She wore a simply beautiful red dress, and she had been so excited because she was going to the dance with Lucky.

Only she wasn't.

Lucky arrived at the doorstep, and took her sister. Her sister who had been going with Nicolas, but then Nicolas decided to end the back and forth game Sarah had been playing. So, of course, in true Sarah fashion she went running back to Lucky and if she hurt Elizabeth in the process all the better. Elizabeth had kept her silence, and smiled when she wished them a good night because she refused to let either of them know how much they had hurt her. Instead, she had decided to go to the dance only once she had reached the school…she couldn't muster up the courage to walk through those doors. So she turned around with her tail between her legs and decided to go to a movie.

Except the only movies were romances, and she couldn't stomach any romance this evening. So that's how she ended up in the park, on the bench. She had been sitting there, minding her own business when a hand wrapped around her mouth and she had been tugged into the bushes. Fear and panic ran through her as the man slapped across the face when she tried clawing and kicking at him. The sound of fabric ripping was so loud, and her heart was beating a mile of minute in her chest.

This could not be happening! Tears were in her eyes, and when she felt his hands reach up her skirt something inside of her snapped. Something in her arms shifted, painfully so like an unused muscle that she had forgotten about and the pain grew each passing second until something ripped through her fingertips. The man who had been hurting her let out a cry of alarm as five inch long claws ripped out of Elizabeth's fingers, and Elizabeth felt something dark twist in her chest.

She lunged forward, because she wasn't going to give him a chance to hurt her again. The claws were sharp, and she plunged them right into his stomach. She wanted to hurt him like he hurt her, and the sight of blood running down like a fountain did nothing to cool the rage she felt inside of her. It was an animalistic feeling that consumed her, and it wasn't until he was still in the snow did it all sink in slowly.

Her body trembled and shook. Her wide eyes stared downward at the claws protruding from her fingertips and she let out a tiny cry of panic.

"Elizabeth?" A voice came from behind her. She turned, and found Lucky standing behind her. Lucky stared at her horrified, and he took a step away from her. "Oh, God! What…what are you?"

Elizabeth was too shocked to answer, and too shocked to stop him from running away.

It was only ten minutes later that the police showed up. Half of them had their guns drawn, but Taggert didn't. He approached her cautiously, his eyes locked on the claws still out there for all to see. He carefully put the handcuffs on her wrists, and she didn't fight him. She was too tired to fight.

"He hurt me," she whispered as he led her to the police car. "He pulled me into the bushes, he r-ripped my dress, he tried to hurt me…I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to…I just wanted him to stop."

Taggert's wary expression softened into sympathy and understanding as he drew an eye over her. He stared at the bruises and torn dress. "Just keep your head down," he told her, quietly. "Can you put those away?" He gestured towards the claws on her stiff fingers.

"I…I don't even know how I got them out," Elizabeth's voice was slightly hysterical.

"Try," Taggert told her, sternly. He sent a glance over his shoulder, and knew that this was going to turn into a circus. There was no doubt in his mind what Elizabeth Webber was, and this town was not very open minded when it came to people like her. Baldwin was going to be all over this like white on rice, he thought grimly. He could make a call, and as much as he hated to be indebted to that son of a bitch, he would feel horrible if Elizabeth was convicted of a crime when it was clearly self defense.

Elizabeth took deep gulps of air, and clenched her eyes closed. Slowly she relaxed her fingers, and inch by inch the claws slid back underneath her skin. She opened her eyes and stared at her four fingers and thumb with a look of disbelief. Blood dripped off the tips of her fingers, and Elizabeth knew that everything changed.

Everything went by in a blur. Taggert took pictures of her injuries, which the policeman noted were fading away with each passing minute then he left her in the interrogation room. Through the door, she heard District Attorney Scott Baldwin going nuts and she heard the word 'mutant' and 'freak' tossed around a few times. She sat there underneath the blinding, noisy light in complete silence. It felt like she was floating, at a complete dissociation with the world around her and her heart felt broken in her chest.

She had always been the oddball in her family. The outcast, the black sheep, and a whole bunch of other words that meant outsider. Now, it was even worse. She was a mutant. She had heard about them on the news, and heard all the horror stories whispered in the school hallways. Elizabeth felt a tremble of fear rush down her spine, when she remembered what happened to Tyler Murphy. He had been a junior, and when someone started the rumor he was a mutant, he had been tormented. It turned out that he wasn't, but he still moved out of Port Charles for all the things he had endured.

Elizabeth was a mutant. What would life be like for her? Would it even worse? Her head jerked upward when the door opened and a man walked through. He wore in a dark, finely tailored suit. His dark hair was slicked back, and his brown eyes held an understanding that she hadn't expected. He flashed her a smile, showcasing his dimple and he shut the door behind him.

"Are you my attorney?" She asked, quietly.

"No, but I am here to help," he told her, his voice calm and slowly. "My name is Sonny Corinthos."

Recognition flashed through her eyes. "The mob boss?"

He chuckled, lightly. "Allegedly," he said.

"Why…why are you here?" Elizabeth couldn't understand why this man wanted to help her. Shouldn't he be looking at her with derision, or scorn like everyone else?

He gave her a sad smile, like he knew exactly what she was thinking. He held out his hand, the palm of it turned upward and suddenly a ball of fire appeared there in the air. Elizabeth gasped, jerking back in shock. "Because I'm just like you," Sonny told her, simply. He closed his fingers, and the ball of fire was smothered out. Only a faint trace of smoke left as evidence until it, too, faded into obscurity. "I understand you are afraid. People are going to hate you simply because of what you are, and no matter how hard you try…they aren't going to try to see the real you."

Elizabeth took several breaths, before she slumped in her seat. "It's not like they tried before," she shrugged her shoulders, her voice trembling. "So that's nothing new." Her blue eyes stared at the table for several moments before she lifted them towards him. "How can you help me? I killed a man."

"In self-defense, from what Taggert said," Sonny stated, with a roll of his shoulders.

"No one else believes that," Elizabeth whispered out.

"Look, kid," Sonny sat down in the chair. "I'm not going to lie to you and say that this going to be easy. For people like you and me, life ain't every going to be easy, but you get through it."

"How?" Elizabeth asked. Against her will, she felt a glimmer of hope stutter inside of her chest and her hands clenched into tight fists.

"You survive," Sonny said, staring her straight in the eye. "You are a survivor, and you have to hold onto that or…all the stuff you go through, all the mountains you overcome will mean nothing."

It had been a circus.

The judge had let Elizabeth go. (He was a mutant himself, though no one knew that save for Sonny.) And as Elizabeth was being lead outside of the courthouse by Jason Morgan, a stoic young man who worked for Sonny that had been acting as her guard for the majority of the trial, Elizabeth stepped through the crowd with a jacket over her face. The trial had been a closed on, and with carefully maneuvering Elizabeth's name had been kept out of the press. On one side was mutant protests that hurled insults. 'Murderer' and 'monster' being the nicest of them.

On the other side, shouts of support came from the pro-mutant campaigners though it did little soothe the ache in Elizabeth's soul. "Thank you," she murmured quietly, when Jason steadied her as a cop bumped into her not so gently.

Jason gave the cop a dark look, and the cop scurried away because everyone knew Jason Morgan's reputation. He opened the car door and ushered Elizabeth inside before following her into the car. When the door was sealed shut, he turned his blue eyes onto Elizabeth, his brows furrowed in a hint of concern. "Are you alright?" He asked, quietly.

Elizabeth appreciated the quiet way he held himself. He always had an ear to listen, even when she had broken down he had listened patiently. "I'm free," she commented, with a fake smile. "So, I guess."

"Elizabeth," he said, his lips twisted down in a frown. "You don't have to pretend with me."

Her carefully put together expression fell into one of uncertainty. "They don't believe it, do they? That I'm really innocent?"

"It doesn't matter if they believe," Jason shook his head. "It matters if you believe it."

"But…how I am supposed to go about my days knowing that people are going to whispering behind me back? I know that Sonny threatened Luke to keep Lucky from talking, but he already told a few people. He told my grandmother, and the only reason Sarah hasn't been shouting it from the high heavens is because it's 'too shameful for it to be publicly known that her sister is a mutant'," she repeated her sister's callous words, that her sister had gleefully spat at her. "As for Emily, she hasn't even spoken to me."

"Her loss then," Jason commented, his arms crossed over his chest. If his sister would let her ignorance blind her to the young woman in front of him, that was Emily's loss. Elizabeth was loyal, to a fault some would say. To have someone that would be there for you unconditionally was a rare thing to find, and that was the type of person that Elizabeth was.

Elizabeth chuckled. "You always have an answer, don't you?"

"Most times," Jason smiled, slightly.

It had been a month since the trial.

Elizabeth had packed her things from her grandmother's house, and the older woman watched her with disapproval. She couldn't tell if it was because she was a mutant, or if it was because Sonny's men were helping her get her things. Elizabeth didn't ask because she had become apathetic to her grandmother's disapproval. Elizabeth knew she wasn't the perfect grandchild, but Audrey had never truly gotten to see the real Elizabeth.

Now she never would.

"Do you want to stop at Kelly's to get something to eat?" Francis Correlli asked. Sonny had told them to slowly ease Elizabeth back into everyday life, because she couldn't spend her life locked up in the penthouse.

Elizabeth had refused the offer several times. She just felt like she wasn't ready because it had been a favorite haunt for her old friends, and several people who were probably out of her life forever. But today, there was something inside of her chest. Something like steel around her heart, and she looked up at Francis. "Sure," she nodded, putting a smile on her face. "Why not?"

Francis blinked in shock. "Really?"

"You're the one made the suggestion, now you are shocked when she agreed?" Johnny O'Brien quirked up an eyebrow at the other guard.

Francis gave him a glower, and Elizabeth just shook her head at the two as they loaded up the rest of her stuff. The drive to Kelly's was relatively short. Shorter than Elizabeth would like, because did feel a tremble of fear rush through. She quickly stomped it down because if she never got this over with now, then she would likely never find the courage to do it again. With her head held high, she walked through the doors and into Kelly's. She walked straight up to the counter, not bothering to look at who was sitting at the tables.

Bobbie was behind the counter today, and when she looked up to see Elizabeth the other woman froze. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth parted in shock. Elizabeth paused for the briefest of moment before she slid into the chair, and folded her arms on the counter. "Can I get a hot chocolate, please?" She asked, her voice even. Francis and Johnny took seats at the table behind her acting like a barrier between her and the rest of the world.

Bobbie blinked, then nodded her head mutely. Realizing how rude that was, the older woman cleared her throat. "Yes. I just made a fresh batch," she said, quickly covering her shock. She quickly went about getting the order, and placed the cup in front of Elizabeth. "Here you go."

"Thank you," Elizabeth said, with a smile. It was a fake one, but no one save for Jason really could see through them.

"I…I'm glad that you are doing well, Elizabeth," Bobbie said, sincerely. "It was wrong how Scott and the police force treated you. I just wanted you to know that."

Elizabeth felt herself relax ever so slightly at the genuine concern in Bobbie's voice. Her smile became less fake, and she picked up her hot chocolate. "Thanks, Bobbie," she told the older woman. "I appreciate it."

"Well, well," a snide voice ruined the moment. "Look who finally decided to crawl out of her hole. If I were you, I would have just did everyone a favor and just stayed there."

Elizabeth straightened her spine, and turned around in the seat with a pleasant expression on her face. "Hello, Sarah," she said, with a tight smile. "I would say how lovely it is to see you, but then I would be lying. Lucky," her blue eyes looked coolly over at her former crush.

"I don't speak to freaks," Lucky sneered.

Sarah's grin broaden, sure that Lucky's remark would hurt Elizabeth. She had played on Lucky's uncertainty and fear and destroyed any notion of him asking Elizabeth for forgiveness for freaking out. It was kind of pitiful how easily he had been manipulated, which just reminded Sarah that Lucky was a little boy. She didn't want a boy, she wanted a man. She had hoped to come here and see Nic, play on their history.

She'd settle for making Lizzie's life hell instead.

However, not hurt flickered across Elizabeth's face. Just annoyance, and Elizabeth arched a brow. "Wow. How original," she scoffed, with an eye roll. "Tell me, how long did it take your pea brain to come with up that insult? A week?"

Lucky reeled back. He had forgotten how cutting Lizzie's retorts could be, but he had thought that after the trial it would have made her meek. Showed her that she wasn't so high and mighty, instead he saw a new kind of hardness to Elizabeth's expression that hadn't been there before.

Johnny hid his smirk behind his hand, while Francis just had a knowing look on his face. They had both known that Elizabeth could handle whatever came her way, but they were glad that she had finally remembered that.

The doors opened, and Nicolas walked into Kelly's.

Sarah perked up ever so slightly, and Elizabeth's nose wrinkled with disdain. Claws weren't the only thing that Elizabeth had received, she had also received a very keen nose. Elizabeth's lips curled upward, and narrowed her eyes at Sarah. "Careful, Sarah," she told her sister, mockingly. "You smell desperate. It comes with the whole mutant package, and you reek of desperation when Nicolas walked in. Guess that sucks for you," she twisted her gaze to Lucky, her smile taking on a sardonic edge.

"Shut your mouth," Sarah snapped, taking a step towards Elizabeth. "You are just a miserable little freak! Nobody wants you, and nobody cares about you even before you turned out to be a mutant! You might have fooled the judge and jury, but everyone knows you for what you really are! People like you should be locked away."

"What do you mean people like you?" Nicolas asked. He had been out of town since the dance, and had only returned today. He had seen Sarah with Lucky and figured that Sarah was giving Elizabeth the usual grief. That was until he heard what she had just said.

Elizabeth's eyes widened at the foreboding look on Nicolas's face, not that Sarah noticed. Sarah looked smugly at her sister to notice the dark thunderous expression that twisted across Nicolas's face. "Elizabeth's a mutant," Sarah stated, with a sneer of disdain. If she could get Nicolas on her side, perhaps she could run little Lizzie out of town and her life for good. "People like her should be locked away so that can't be a danger to normal people like us."

"Normal people like you, huh?" Nicolas's face was cold. "Normal people who use ignorance to justify their fear? Or normal people who think it's alright to attack their sister for no reason?"

"What?" Sarah blanched. "I do not!"

"Oh, you don't call calling her a freak attacking? No, I suppose in your head you somehow think you're justified in talking to her that. You know what Sarah I'm really glad I know your views on mutants before I go deeply involved with you," Nicolas clasped his hands in front of him, and gave her a cold smile. "I really should be thanking you for saving me all the trouble I would have went through down the road."

Sarah looked at him, aghast. "Nicolas, I don't understand," the blonde choked out.

Nicolas stared at her hard then he raised his hand, and the chair right beside Elizabeth moved away from the counter on its own. With sparing the blond another word, Nicolas took a seat beside Elizabeth and turned his back on Sarah all together.

"I should have known," Lucky glared. "It all makes sense why the Cassadines are so demented. It's because they are mutants."

"Demented?" Nicolas shot him a look out of the corner of his eye. "I prefer the term different. If you want to know what is truly demented is what your father did to your mother."

"Nicolas!" Bobbie looked shocked.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lucky demanded.

Nicolas had the decency to look guilty because Bobbie had been nothing, but good to him. "I wasn't going to take his insults," Nicolas grumbled, underneath his breath.

"There are better ways to defend yourself," Bobbie told him, sharply. She then squared her shoulder and turned to the two teens causing trouble. "If you two can't keep a civil tongue, then you need to leave."

"Aunt Bobbie," Lucky looked stricken.

"Don't Aunt Bobbie me, young man," Bobbie put her hands on her hips. "Your mother would never approve of this behavior and you know it. Besides, this is my place of business and I won't have you running off my costumer whether they are mutant or not."

Sarah looked livid, and glared heatedly at Elizabeth as this was all her fault. "Kelly's was a crappy diner anyways," she flicked a piece of hair over her shoulder and marched out the doors. Lucky stood there for a long moment, his hands fists clenched at his side before he cast a dark glare at Nicolas before he followed Sarah.

"Well," was all Bobbie said, but the exhausted tone in her voice said more than words could. She walked into the back for a couple of moments to compose herself desperately.

Elizabeth stared at Nicolas with no small amount of disbelief and shock. Nicolas just sat there calmly like nothing was out of the ordinary at all, and Elizabeth craned her neck to look over her shoulder at Johnny and Francis. They also wore shocked expressions on their faces. Drawing in a deep breath, she looked at the Cassidine Prince. "You do realize that you are going to have to deal with a lot of trouble because of your little display, don't you?" She couldn't help, but to ask.

"It would have came eventually," Nicolas shrugged his shoulders. "Luckily it happened before Sarah conned me into marriage."

"True," Elizabeth inclined her head. "Still…aren't you worried about people knowing that you are a mutant?"

"It's…a little distressing," Nicolas smiled when one of the waitress brought him his usual coffee. "I won't lie, but I'm also relieved that I don't have to hide anymore. As for any repercussion, let them come. My family is very well invested into several major projects and businesses throughout the country. To insult my family or I would bring them finance ruin. Sometimes," he took a sip of his coffee and flashed a sarcastic smile, "money speaks louder than fear."

"That's sad," Elizabeth told him.

"But the truth," Nicolas said, simply. He looked over her with a speculative glance. "How did you learn about your abilities? For me, I always knew there was a possibility that I would be a mutant. My father was one, and my grandparents as well."

"Really?" Elizabeth gaped.

"Yeah," Nicolas grinned ever so slightly. "You didn't think my grandmother is just really lucky to survive all those near death experiences right?"

"Kind of," Elizabeth said, repressing a shudder.

"No. She can heal herself and others. I think she always assumed that she would be immortal because she was hard to kill. However, age is coming up on her and it's made her even more dangerous," Nicolas sighed, heavily. He then shook his head with a light laugh. "I got off track, rambling about me that I almost forgot my question."

"And it was?" Elizabeth said, half sheepish because she had truly already forgotten.

"How did you learn about your abilities?" Nicolas inquired.

"Ah," her smile fell.

"Not a happy story I take?" Nicolas read her expression.

"Not exactly," Elizabeth sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and sat back in the seat. "A man tried to assault me, and then next thing I knew, I sprouted claws," she wiggled her fingers, with a wry grin.

"Really?" Nicolas blinked.

"Yeah," she rolled the tension out of her shoulders. "Not as impressive as your handwork, but it was enough for me to protect myself."

"Hey, don't sell yourself short," Nicolas told her, with a half smile. "Claws are pretty impressive in their own right. My grandfather got on the wrong end of someone with claws way back when. Though to be far, my grandfather brought it really upon himself."

"That's a real story?" Elizabeth looked unconvinced.

"Yes, it is," Nicolas laughed. He had just realized that he had almost missed out on a good friendship with Elizabeth because he had been blinded by Sarah's childish game. He was glad that this common ground between them rectified that. "My grandmother uses it as a cautionary tale to not underestimate someone because their powers might not appear so grand on first glimpse."

Elizabeth just laughed, lightly. She was glad she came to Kelly's now. Not only had she stood up to her sister and Lucky, she had made a new friend. Feeling a bit inspired, she grasped the hot chocolate and held up in the air. "I propose a toast, if I may be so bold," she said, with a bright grin.

"You may," Nicolas granted permission, with a loftily expression that was ruined with the twitching of his lips.

"Here's to us," Elizabeth clinked her cup against his. "For be mutant, and be proud of it."

"To us," Nicolas agreed.

Hope you all enjoyed!

Next: An epilogue set a few years in the future that shows how everything has changed, and where Elizabeth finds her real family.

Rrs are appreciated.