(Hello readers out there :) I'm new on this page and this is my first fanfiction and it's been translated from German to English! I really hope you like it, you'll find the original one here: .de/s/52d3630e00031a142c0de6c0/1/A-girl-they-called-Shadow

I'd love to get some review on it!

Thanks a lot, Annika :) )

Chapter 1: Bad Start

The rain rolled off my skin as I slowly, step by step, walked towards the gate of the huge building, that reminded me more of a fancy mansion than a school. Even though I knew that most eyes wouldn't notice me, I checked carefully for people on the street and that every single one of my steps was well thought and quiet.

There it was, the sign.

Xavier's school for gifted youngsters.

I took a look over my shoulder before I let go of my camouflage. Then I pressed the doorbell. I suddenly felt so … normal.

A little while later the gate opened and an elderly man in a wheelchair appeared right in front of me. Without saying a word, he signalized me to follow him.

On the way to his office which I found incredibly long I tried not to wonder about him opening me the door personally or that he probably already knew about everything that had happened. How that complete idiot of a helping hand of Lensherr had put his claws to my neck. How I had lost my left middle finger. Ironic actually, if you thought about it, I mean, it had been my favorite weapon against him. But still I doubted, that that was his reason for biting it off.

I glanced at the wooden wainscoting on the walls, then at the bandage on my hand. The blood had soaked it again and dried at the sides, hard and dark. Screw that.

A door to my left opened and the man leading the way steered his vehicle through, before I was able to follow him, as inconspicious as possible. Which wasn't hard at all for me, camouflage was my „gift".

The room was bigger on the inside than it seemed from the outside. In front of the back wall which was made out of glass there was a desk with skyscraper-like piles of folders, sheets and pencils, but they were neatly put in place. On the left side of the desk there was a chalk board, green, like they apparently had them in schools, and on it there were some long physical functions that I didn't understand. The high bookshelves hardly casted any shadows into the light room, which made the tidy office look a lot more friendly.

We weren't alone. In front of the desk, there were three people standing, even though I have to admit, one was more leaning against the desk chewing gum, while the other two just stood there with their arms crossed.

The guy in the wheelchair looked at me, his face in deep thought. I tried to kick out all the emotions, that Erik Lensherr had tried to teach me about him, out of my head, but it didn't really work the way I wanted it to. With his bald head and the hooked nose that stood in contrast to his kind eyes he reminded me of my grandfather – or at least the guy who one had introduced to me as my grandfather. God knows who the guy had actually been, but I liked him.

Professor Xavier can read people's minds, I reminded myself. That's what he was probably doing right now. I forced myself to look at something else, so I looked at the people standing behind him. It was weird how I already knew two of them, even though we had never met in person. How small the world is, an ironic voice in my head mocked, and it sounded far more brave than I actually was.

Cyclops was wearing his sunglasses as usual, but I knew that he was examining me from top to bottom. A bit anxious I pulled my leather jacket down. The man to the professor's right grinned. Wolverine wore a similar jacket, and the way he was standing a bit further away from Cyclops, Xavier and the dark-haired teenage girl, I thought he might not get along with them too well. Our looks crossed, but instead of the smile I had hoped for, he gave me a killing look with his eyes. How lovely that that was only a saying.

Maybe my decision hadn't been so well?

These disfavoring looks were just cruel.

„Chameleon?"

I shivered as I heard the both friendly and pejorative voice of the professor.

„I'm calling myself Shadow now.", I explained as calm as possible. „Like it better."

„Magneto called you Chameleon."

Watch your words, Gal! „Chameleon is dead.", I answered shortly. „And Shadow has risen from the ashes. I'm here voluntarily, if that's what you want to know. I haven't been sent."

„So you're not talking nice about my old friend.", the professor commented, quietly grinning, and I wasn't sure if he wanted an answer or not.

„There were incidences.", I said, just to make sure. „I'm not fighting for him anymore."

„Not for us either." I turned my head and saw Cyclops, one eyebrow pulled up.

„I don't have to fight for you. I could wait outside until -"

„Calm down, kids." Xavier appeasingly lifted his hands.

„It's a once in a lifetime situation, but I have to agree with you.", I heard Wolverine say to Cyclops. „You don't belong here." The last part was for me.

Before I had to bite my tongue not to make a mean comment, the professor interrupted us again. „Stop it, Logan!" Okay. So Wolverine's actual name was Logan. „It would be better if the three of you left now."

If Cyclops wouldn't have worn his glasses, he would have rolled his eyes, visible for everyone. But this way he only sighed.

„So, Wolverine and Cylops.", I said as the three had left the room, the girl, amazingly, through the door. At least I knew her mutation now. „Why were they here?"

„You don't feel comfortable when there's other people around, do you?", the professor asked instead of answering my questions. I hated if people did that.

„Obviously."
„Why?"
„Why were the two of them here? And the girl?"

„Logan and Scott informed me about the thing with Sabretooth and Kitty … Well, it's hard to get rid of her, I guess." He smiled. My face stayed frozen. There had to be something wrong about him being so open and polite.

„And what are you going to do with me now? Do you have some kind of mutant prison vor Magneto's helpers in your school?"

„God, no. I'd love to keep you here, but not against your will. You may leave if you want, but it seemed to me like you were thinking about changing sides."

„I already did.", I said quickly. „Mentally, I mean. The way I think ..."

„Good." I nodded. „I'll give you a room then, but I'll keep an eye on you. You worked together with Erik Lensherr for six years, you never know. Please don't take it the wrong way."

I shook my head no, but inside, I sighed. Still, Xavier constantly having an eye on me was better than everything Magneto had wanted to do to me. „I thank you." And I really did. To me it seemed like I had really changed the past few days, that I had fled. Last week Cyclops – or Scott, like the professor called him – would have deeply regretted his deprecation towards me. I knew people who had already been in a fight with him, so I knew, that he hardly ever took off his glasses, making him a lot less dangerous. Logan would have been the bigger problem, but not even he could fight something he couldn't see. But here and now I was able to stop my aggressions and it made me proud, even though I felt a bit like a one-man-selfhelping-group.

I was able to feel his breath in my back and smell the rotten smell that he excreted even before I saw him. I turned around, getting a bit of my hair in my face and making me blind for a second. There he was, standing in front of me, not shaved at all, with long hair and pitch black eyes, smiling at me like a wild animal on the hunt.

What do you want?", I asked with a cold voice, trying to sound as bored as possible, but also arrogant, if you look at it.

Magneto is ready." His voice made me shake every time, possibly because he spoke so rarely.

I won't come."

Oh yes, you will."

No." My voice sounded even harder and certain, than it did in my head.

Don't be that chippy, princess.", he grinned and I shivered again, as he opened his mouth for an even bigger smile, showing all his sharp teeth …

I woke up from my sleep. With one of the many pillows I rubbed off the sweat from my forehead, whilst my other hand was trying to find the light switch, panicking.

„You're safe. You're here. Safe.", I wispered the moment the lights went on.

My room looked friendly, even now in the middle of the night and with closed curtains. In the past I had hated comfortable rooms like this one, because they change the way of looking at things that might still happen here. Paint a room black and if someone gets murdered it's not as bad, because everyone expected it to happen anyways.

But this room I loved. I needed the difference. And after all the panicking during the past few days this room looked more inviting than everything else. No dark corners in which Magneto's warriors could hide, just a simple, squared bedroom with a huge bed, a full bookshelf and a table with two chairs. Perfect.

I turned off the lights again. The horrible pictures in front of my inner eye came back almost immidiately.

Sabretooth opened his mouth to laugh hysterically. My dead finger fell out from between his teeth and I rolled to the side to avoid it, while I was still screaming in pain and staring at the bleeding wound on my left hand.

Stop! Lights on!

I started murmuring it like a mantra. „You're safe, there's no one there. You're safe, there's no one there. You're safe ..."

I never had wasted a second to the thought, that out of all people Sabretooth would be the one making me be so scared. I mean, I always thought of him as an idiot, stupid and absolutely predictable. An easy opponent.

The volume of my scared and heavy breathing amazed me. I had never heard myself breathe so fast and loud. Still shaking I got out of the bed. The carpet felt nice and fluffy under my feet as I walked over to the bookshelf. I looked at the titles.

Whoever had lived here before me, it had clearly been a student, easily to figure out by noticing that almost all of the books were teenager's novels or fantasy stories.

But at the bottom I found something I liked more, old classics. Tolkien, Dickens, Lewis, Baum … the list was endless.

I ran over the dusty backs of the books with my index finger. It felt nice. Lensherr once said, that subconscious déjà-vus were safe signs to find out something about one's past. I didn't know much about the time before Magneto. Too many lies, that my alleged mother had told me, causing me to move further away from my true personality. The stronger I tried concentrating on the books, the more my hate I felt towards that woman went away. Maybe I had liked to read in the past? I hadn't touched a book in years.

I pulled out Oliver Twist. It was famous, that I knew, and dark, but I hadn't read it.

I walked back to my bed, opened the first page and let myself get caught in the story.