Hey everybody. So here is my first chapter of my X-Men Movieverse fanfiction. I hope you'll like it as much as I liked writing it :)

Disclamer: I only own my two original characters Amalia and Liam.

I wanna say a huge thanks to my awesome beta reader, Luhverse that corrected my misspellings and errors and also helped me with other problems. I'm very thankful to her and the way she helped me. You're great, girl :)

Just so you know, my chapters titles have names of songs from bands, singers/artists or OSTs I really love.

"Where to?" is the title of a song from the OST of "The Wolverine" the movie and was writen by Marco Beltrami, Pete Anthony &Belinda Broughton. I listened to this song more than 130 times while writing the entire story :)

See you around for chapter two and don't forget to tell me what you thought about it ;)

I. Where to?

Wet concrete, sticky mud, smoke from a burning house a few yards away; rain falling, washing their sins and making her pure again. She tried to steady her heart rate.

"They're gone." a young boy voiced his observation using English even though it wasn't his mother tongue. "I can't feel them anymore."

She nodded but didn't turn her face from the small cut of light that entered their shelter, allowing her to look outside the big stone walls that surrounded them without being seen. She knew he was right, he was always right. With that in mind, she lowered herself to back down into the dirty cave they had found in the mountain side.

"We're safe, for now." she told him in a whisper. "Try to get some sleep. I'll be on watch."

He nodded while shivering and she pulled him against her chest.

"It's gonna be okay, Liam." she said, rocking him in an effort to get him to relax. "Trust me. We're gonna be okay."

She felt him nodding against her chest, still shivering.

"You're cold."

He shook his head, trying to be as strong as he felt she was but failed.

"You can't fool me, little brother. I know you're cold."

Pressing his lips together, he looked down at his hands, feeling guilty and ashamed. She let a small laugh skim through her throat as she released him, and took off the long white lab gown she wore to put it on his thin shoulders.

"There. It will warm you up a little." she said before kissing his hair in an almost motherly way. "Try to get some sleep now. I don't know how long we have until we need to move again."

Liam nodded once more and lied down, resting his head on the nearest stone wall of their improvised shelter. His sister's gaze fell on him until she could hear his breathing relax. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. She felt guilty for making him go through this whole situation, but she had to. She did it for him. She couldn't let him stay there. They were going to hurt him again. Breathing in deeply she pushed the memories back and looked through the thin loophole, her senses on high alert. Everything seemed quiet, but she didn't relax. She needed Liam to be safe so she narrowed her eyes and fought the sleepiness that crept over her limbs and mind. Half an hour passed before she needed to walk; she could feel pins and needles in her legs and arms. Careful not to wake her brother up, she rose from her spot and stretched herself. She really needed to walk. Closing her eyes she concentrated, feeling the tickling increase under her skin as she made her body invisible. Without a sound, she crept outside the cave and emerged on the construction site in front of the mountain. Even if she knew no one could see her, she looked around, analyzing the situation as a well-trained soldier would on a dangerous mission. The cave provided them a shelter from the rain and the wind. The location wasn't bad. The lack of trees would allow them to see anyone coming around, and water could be found in the worksite. She could hear people screaming around the burning house she accidently set on fire during their escape, but it didn't concerned her. The humans were too busy trying to put out the fire to look for those responsible. She sighed as the rain continued to pour, soaking her clothes through, but she didn't care. She liked it. She had lived in water most of her life and enjoyed the feeling. She knew Liam didn't. She knew it reminded him of the compound. A dog barked in the distance and she felt her muscles contract, surprised by the sound, ready to fight. The red light in her brain switched off as quickly as it had switched on. The creature was too far away to harm them and she let her body relax under the rain. She walked around the place, trying to figure out if there was some food to give Liam when he wakes up, not leaving the cave's entrance out of her sight just in case. Even if there wasn't any danger right now didn't mean they were safe.

'Where and when will he ever be safe?' she asked herself, feeling sad for her little brother.

She had to do it. She had to break the glass and escape from the compound. If it was only her, she would have stayed there. Pain, tests and training weren't so hard to live with. She could have dealt with it. But she couldn't stand to hear his screams anymore. She had watched him grown up on the other side of the room. She saw the miracle of life; day after day, the tiny point became a shape and the shape became a baby. Now he was a fourteen year old boy and she was sick of them torturing him. He wasn't fitting in during training. He wasn't built to fight or take blows like she did for most of her twenty five years. She was his sister, and she had to protect him. That was why she broke the glass pod she was standing in, surrounded by water, and fled with him. He wasn't scared of her. They had so many discussions in their minds while they waited between tests, they were almost Siamese twins. He had helped her, sharpening the rough edges of her mind. He taught her how to read, to increase her vocabulary, even to speak different languages. She could now conduct a casual conversation in six or seven different languages, thanks to him. Technical terms were the next step of her learning, but they escaped before the first lesson started.

She sat on a big concrete block and pushed away her memories once more. In front of her the sun was rising and the clouds were chased away by the rising wind. The rain stopped quickly after that and she sighed, feeling her body longing for the pouring water. Now she felt dry enough for her skin to crack even if she knew it wasn't going to happen anytime soon. The house she'd set on fire wasn't burning anymore and she smiled, filled by a peaceful feeling. She didn't know why but she was afraid this accident would have hurt someone. She didn't like or hate humans. She had been trained to hate them, but the touch of Liam's mind on hers made her realize the feeling didn't come from her. She had been manipulated to think what they wanted her to think and her little brother had made a point to free her from it as quickly as he could. He had explained that love and hate were like colors. Black and white were the beginning and the end of the color wheel, but there was so many shades in between, the same can be said for emotions. She understood now, but it had been hard at first; she was too raw to feel something between the love she had for him or the staff, and the hate she had for the people outside the compound. A sound and a white shape in the field of her vision startled her, cutting the thread of her thoughts and she stood up quickly, arms raised and ready to fight.

"Amalia? Where are you?" a voice in her head asked and she relaxed almost instantly.

She walked over to Liam and gently pushed him inside the cave where she followed before rearranging her molecules. As soon as he could see her, he threw himself into her arms, shivering as tears ran down his flawless cheeks.

"I thought you were taken." he whispered into her white hospital t-shirt. "I thought you let them take you to save me."

She smiled kindly and tightened her grip on him before gently stroking the hair on the back of his head.

"Don't worry. I'm here and I don't plan on going anywhere without you."

Liam's sobs stopped slowly as he hugged her so tightly she almost couldn't breathe; despite this, she didn't part from him. She stayed, waiting for him to calm down, not bothered by the pain she felt. It was a good pain. She could understand the difference now, thanks to him.

"Are you still cold?" she asked him in a low voice.

He shook his head and released her before handing the lab gown back to her. She put it on and placed a soft kiss on his forehead.

"Can you feel anyone outside?" she asked while taking some documents on the ground.

They were sticky with mud, but the glazed paper was still intact behind the brown stains.

"There is a few people coming our way but none of them are here for us."

"Workers?"

He nodded, his eyes following her gaze to the sheets of papers.

"Okay. Here is the plan." she said before breathing in, her brain already in action. "You stay here and memorize this."

She handed him the documents that where between them and he took them without balking.

"I'm going to the village to find food and fresh clothes."

He looked up at her, his eyes widening at her words.

"I can't stay here on my own. What if someone comes and finds me?"

She smiled at him, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I won't be long. Plus I know you can make yourself invisible to them with that big brain of yours."

Liam smiled at her, before hugging her quickly.

"Be safe." he pleaded and she nodded.

"You too."

And with that she closed her eyes and disappeared slowly. Liam could hear the sounds her feet made as they hit the ground toward the cave's exit. He sighed and sat before lowering his gaze to the documents he still held. There were a lot of numbers and dates. It was some kind of log book filled with a lot of data about Amalia and him. He let his eyes wander over the page before reading the information, one line at a time. He took his time to memorize it all, as his sister had asked him. They were experiments, mutants fully grown in huge test tubes, meant to gather information about the X gene and how to combine and use the different result it could bring, to form a new body. It seemed to be part of a huge program called 'The X-Weapon: Stage Three. They were from the same strain. Their parents didn't have names like they did, they were only numbers, but for some weird reason he was named Liam and his sister was Amalia. Maybe he would find more answers in the other sheets of paper. Skimming through the data, he found something interesting but before he could read it all, a loud noise was heard from outside. He quickly looked up; his hands gripped the documents so tight his knuckles turned white. He panicked as he heard footsteps coming toward him. Closing his eyes hard he sent his brain waves to touch the one of the intruder. It was a man. He was about forty years old, give or take. The fear in Liam's body increased as he heard the man coming toward the entrance. But before he went inside the cave, he stopped, opening his pant zip. The teenage boy heard the worker sigh as he relieved himself before doing up his zip and walking away. It was Liam's turn to sigh. He was a pretty good sprinter but if someone discovered him in that cave, he would have nowhere to go. He would be trapped by the stone walls that surrounded him. Thankfully nothing else happened until Amalia crept through the tiny entrance of the cave. She handed him a red apple and some cooked meat he ate with great appetite. They'd been on the run for two days and didn't have time to steal something to eat. His sister waited for him to finish his meal before handing him a bag full of clothes.

"Where did you find that?" Liam asked her, amazed by what he saw.

His sister smiled at him and took his hand.

"There is an old woman in the village." she explained in a low voice, not to alert the workers outside. "She caught me stealing in the grocery store. At first I was afraid but she bought those for me and cooked the meat for you."

Liam's eyes were full of surprise.

"How could she see you?"

His words earned a new smile from the young woman.

"She is like us, Liam. Not as strong as us but still. She can see auras. That's how she caught me. She saw my aura and knew I was invisible."

Surprise gave its way to hope in the boy's look.

"Can she help us to find a safe place?"

Amalia's jaws tightened as she frowned.

"I don't think we should trust her that much. She may be like us, but sometimes mutants turn their back on each other for things like money or empty promises of a better life."

Liam's face darkened as he nodded. He knew she was right. He'd seen plenty of examples at the compound. Some of the staff members he used to like a lot suddenly changed their behavior after being offered a better position or more money on their pay slips. An uncontrollable shudder ran along his spine and he shook his head to push away the feeling.

"You're right. But maybe we could ask her to hide us for tonight. You need some sleep too."

Amalia opened her mouth to object but Liam raised his hand to silence her.

"It's been two days. Two days and you still haven't slept. Amalia, you need to rest. We don't know how our powers will react to exhaustion."

The young woman sighed. She knew he was right and she also knew she couldn't let him take the watch. It was too dangerous for him. She pressed her lips together, weighing the pros and cons before breathing out.

"Okay. You're right. We can ask her if she can let us stay one night."

Liam kindly smiled at her. He knew she felt wrong about trusting people because she was made to be on her guard seven days a week and twenty four hours a day. He also knew she was strong, but was she strong enough to carry on without sleeping during a week or a month? They didn't know her limits and he wasn't going to risk her life to find out. She was his only family. He'd always know it. Since the first time he could see her through the glass of their respective pods on the each side of the room. He could feel the bond between them as he grew older, becoming tighter with every day. It was like an acute awareness of each other. It allowed them to sense each other's presence within a short radius without even trying. At first he didn't know why he felt she was so important to him. He couldn't understand why he needed her to protect him, to hug him, to comfort him as a mother with her child. He wanted to feel her hair, to grab her hand, just to remind himself that she was real and not a creation of his own mind. He still remembered the first time they had talked.

"Who are you?" he had asked her, using his mind to reach hers.

Her eyes had opened suddenly and she had pressed her hands against the glass of her water filled pod in a desperate attempt of being closer.

"Finally!" she had exclaimed, somehow relieved they could communicate. "I'm Amalia."

"Hello, Amalia. I'm Liam."

And from that moment they had shared countless talks. She was raw, like a stone that needed smothering in order to shine its true splendor. So he had looked into the scientists minds to gather information for her to learn and it had brought them closer. A month later he had been released out of his own pod for the first time and led to a huge and round arena, the walls were made of stones and the floor was sand. She had looked at him, eyes filled with joy at first, pleased to see him closer. But then fear had made its way through her guts and she had grabbed his hand quickly to lead him through the soon to be battle field. When she had found a safe spot for him to hide she released his hand and turned around, positioning her body to shield him.

"Stay behind me." she had ordered him. "I'll keep you safe."

Even if he wouldn't have been gifted with a perfect memory, Liam would have always remembered this moment. Not because it was his first time out of his glass pod, but because it was the first time he had heard the true sound of his sister's voice.

The staff never knew they had shared this connection that had grown stronger every day. They were experiments and their only purpose was to fight, not to bond. But, like the documents he read earlier confirmed it, they had the same parents and somehow it seemed to be the reason of the bond they shared. Her hand on his face cut the thread of his thoughts.

"Are you alright?" she asked, worried about the look in his eyes.

He nodded before standing up.

"So, what are we doing?"

She sighed and bit her lips, thinking.

"Okay. We are going to change our clothes and wait here for the night to come. When the workers will leave, we're going to find the old woman. How does it sound?"

Liam agreed and opened the plastic bag his sister had handed him earlier. They quickly changed into casual clothes before making themselves busy with the documents Amalia had stolen in the compound. They read through them several times, the young boy finishing memorizing it as his sister discovered the data for the first time. Liam sat in front of her, on the hard floor, his back on his sister's chest and Amalia had wrapped her limbs around him as a mother cuddling her child. She rocked him while they read and enjoyed the feeling of his hair on her cheek. It was the first time they could feel each other physically for more than a few seconds on the battle field of the arena. They were still in danger but it was quieter than the few times they touched in the compound. Once in a while, Amalia kissed her brother's hair, unable to suppress the urge to show him her affection and, every time, a small laugh or a sigh came through Liam's throat. When the night started to fall the young woman rose to her feet and stretched her sore limbs. She held her hand out for her brother to stand up and they gathered their things and left their shelter. Amalia made sure they didn't leave any traces before leading the way to the village. Once they reached the first buildings she stopped, making sure no one had followed them. Once she felt reassured, she headed toward the woman's house. It was an old house made of stones with large windows. At one time the stones must have been painted with dark yellow ochre. Now they look dirty with soil. Amalia walked up to the big brown door and knocked three times. A few seconds passed before the door opened slightly. It was dark behind the wooden panel and Liam couldn't see the woman's face, just the setting sun's light shimmer on her eyes. She seemed to recognize Amalia and opened the door wider.

"Oh, it's you. Come on in." she said in French, inviting them in as she let them entered the first room.

It was a large living room with a cozy light green sofa, a big black screen and a long coffee table between them. A small wooden table was placed in front of a window in a corner. It was covered with what seemed to be thick sheets of paper.

"I see you brought your brother. What's your name, kid?"

The teenage boy turned his eyes to her smiling face.

"I'm Liam." he answered, using the same language.

She nodded and gestured toward the couch for them to sit.

"Would you like some tea?"

Amalia looked to her brother for approval and, as he nodded, turned toward the old lady.

"Some tea would be great." she said, not even sure what tea was.

The two siblings sat on the sofa and let their gazes slide along the walls of the house. It was strange to be inside of a building with so many colors and things. The only room they knew was filled with a long table made of steel in his center and twelve huge pods made of glass and filled with water placed against the black iron walls. The only light came from spots in the pods and a big surgical lamp fixed on the ceiling. It made the center very bright while the edges were bathed in a dirty and greenish light. Thinking about this place made Amalia sick. She was an experiment, right. She had been fully grown in a giant test tube, okay. But to think of the conditions they were raised in made her want to puke. Placing a hand on her mouth she tried hard to prevent bile from rising in her throat. Liam placed a hand on his sister's leg and helped her. Brushing her mind with his, he calmed her and drew her attention to the present.

"Don't worry. It's okay. We're here now." he whispered to her.

Amalia took a deep breath, closing her eyes to stay focused as her brother hugged her tightly.

"Don't think about that place anymore." he carried on.

The young woman nodded before opening her eyes.

"Are you alright, girl?" the old woman asked as she walked toward them carrying a tray with three mugs, some spoons, a small white box and a teapot.

Amalia nodded once more, focusing on the tray their host was putting in front of them.

"I'm sorry. I only had one flavor." the woman informed them while filling their cups. "If I knew you were coming, I would have bought more this morning."

"Don't worry, ma'am." said Liam while taking his mug. "This is okay."

He watched their host take a sip from her cup, as to make sure it wasn't poisoned before mimicking her. The taste was strong and bitter and he saw a smile forming on the old woman's face.

"Here. Put some sugar in it. It will soften the taste." she advised him as she held the little white box for them.

Liam took two white grainy squares inside the box and put them into his drink before taking the spoon his host gave him.

"I see the clothes look good on you." she kindly said with a smile.

"We can't thank you enough for it, ma'am." Amalia told her after taking a sip of her own drink.

"If you want to repay me, start calling me Odile." she said gently. "But if I may ask, you didn't come here to thank me, I am wrong?"

The two young guests felt guilty to ask for more after all she's done for them.

"We… We would like to… to ask you… if we could possibly stay here… tonight." Amalia said before biting her lower lip.

"Of course you can." she answered the young woman with a growing smile. "It will be good to have some young people around. It's been too long since friends and family came to visit me."

While she was talking, Liam scanned her thoughts to find evidence of any threat, but find none.

"You can trust me, little one." Odile said while turning her gentle eyes to Liam. "You don't have to read my thoughts to be sure."

"I'm sorry. It's just we…"

"You're on the run. I can see that. Do you know some place you'll be safe?"

Both Amalia and Liam shook their heads.

"Okay, you can stay here as long as you need. You can repay me by doing chores, if it makes you feel better." the old woman told them. "And when you're in better shape, I'll take you some place safe. It's a school for people like us. That's where my son goes for his studies. It's in another country, but I know someone who can get you there."

The two siblings nodded and thanked her before being lead to the bathroom to get rid of the dust and mud they were covered in. Once they bathed, Odile cut their hair and gave them pajamas for the night. They ate and went to bed in Odile's son's bedroom. As their host switched off the light she informed them her bedroom was across the hall.

"If you need anything, just call me."

Amalia and her brother thanked the woman once more before laying down. They waited for Odile to close the door of her bedroom before turning to their side, facing each other.

"She is okay." Liam said, aware of his sister's worries. "She won't be any threat to us. Don't worry."

"Are you sure?"

Liam nodded before taking his sister in his arms.

"Sleep now. You need to rest."

He placed a kind kiss on her hair and waited for Amalia's breath to relax before closing his eyes. Listening to the quiet noises of the house, it didn't take long until he fell asleep.