Once upon a time, there was a land. A land, a country, a world, that the Sun shone brightly down upon and peace reigned supreme. And once upon a time, in this world, the sound of cars, bikes, trains, even nature, was heard.

That land was never still, never resting. The bright neon lights of downtown would always shine, and even the slums of New York were alive with homeless people. Homeless mutants. In that world, nothing was ever still.

It's a pity that the world we live in now isn't that world. Isn't the world where the Sun shines, where children laugh and grow. It's a pity that our world... that this world used to be that world.

This cold world we live in now, hiding in fog-bound alleyways and abandoned houses, is nothing like that world. In this world, there is no sunlight, or laughter, or peace.

In this world, every day is a fight for survival under Silence's Reign.

My name is Jaclyn Vale, and this is my story.

I suppose my life began simply enough. A house, a mother, a father. I distantly remember even owning a dog, or a cat and I know for certain that even back then, I had a fond spot in my heart for my three pet goldfish.

Now, I find it a source of cold amusement that I named them simple names such as Fred, Daphne and Scooby. Heh, I guess I liked Scooby Doo back then.

God, I'd kill someone to be able to watch even the most lame of Scooby Doo episodes right now. A reason to laugh... Pity there's only the broken TV in the corner of the alley with it's wires half scattered over burnt concrete that smells like old blood and piss.

Well, if I'm going to write my life story down for anyone who finds it to read, I better describe myself.

First of all, my name is Jaclyn Rufina Vale, but everyone calls me Jay. Or Wolfclaw, as my codename goes. Either one works. I have long orange hair that used to hang half-way down my back and was impossible to tame. Now, it frames my face down to my shoulders, scruffy. Let it be known that you should always, always go to the hairdressers before letting your grandfather cut your hair for you.

My eyes are a vivid green, and honestly I'm still surprised that they are vivid even now, in this wasteland of a world we live in. Others eyes are dull, lifeless.

Boys once said I had a figure to drool after for eternity, girls were jealous. Now, even with my healing factor, I'm slightly underweight and I'm sure as hell that on a bad day when the fogs clear, you can see my ribs.

My usual attire used to consist daily of the following: denim jeans, white singlet, leather jacket, steel toed boots. Guess I liked Uncle Logan's style. Now my jeans are ripped at the knees and everyday I get another rip to add to the collection. My singlet's more grey and dirty, and my jacket is dirty but intact- I take it off and keep it in a tightly wrapped plastic bag when I have to fight. My boots are worn, but they fit thank god, and they'll do for day to day activities.

That, is me.

My mutations are, being related to both the infamous Wolverine and Sabretooth, and I like to think by being Canadian, thus: healing factor, claws that extend from my fingernails and are adamantium (I just love William Stryker), heightened senses and through some gene defect, my secondary mutation is telekinesis. And to top that wonderful list off, I'm a class 5 mutant. Fun, eh?

Anyway, back to my dismal life story.

To cut a long story short, (believe me, a very long one) I'll just say this, a brief summarised version of my life:

My father sold me out to William Stryker and the Weapon X program after I manifested claws and nearly shredded a teenage girl to bits at school when I was fourteen. When I was eighteen, dear ol' Willy bonded adamantium to my skeleton. Thing is, I did a Logan and ran, where, lo and behold, I ran into Wolverine himself. Joined the X-Men, got an education. I was about to start a job cage fighting when this all began, and I'm sure that I'll be able to... persuade my, ahem, contact, into giving the job to me again when this is all over.

...

I refuse to say that it'll never be over. Ever. That defies the laws of being an X-Man. Or, in my case, X-Woman.

I'm now twenty three, writing this on scraps of paper in an old diary I found in an abandoned newsagent, living with the following mutants: Wolverine, Sabretooth, Storm, Jubilee, Rogue, Gambit and Scythe, Victor's mate. And also, four of these are my relatives.

Wolverine is my four times great uncle, Sabretooth my four times great-grandfather. Storm, my aunt (she's married to Logan) and Scythe (Valeria, she still hasn't told anyone but Granddad her last name) is married to Victor.

Guess I'll get married one day too. Hopefully, you... never know with the world at the moment. Maybe to Carl, if I ever see him again. God, I hope I do...

We're living on the streets, in the shadows, dodging Silence's weapons and soldiers when we see them. The other X-Men are the same- I know for a fact that Nightcrawler, Colossus, Shadowcat, Pheonix and Cyclops are somewhere nearby.

But the problem is, more often than not, we can't spot the spies. Why?

Because the spies all around us is the Silence, the barrier of no noise that coats almost the entire world. Some say Silence himself cast it over us. If he did, I blame him for the knowledge that our own voices are too loud for even us to stand sometimes.

There's no background noise. Not even a single car or train or bird or owl hooting or... or... anything.

And this is how it all began...


Yet another AU. I've been toying with the idea of writing a book named Silence's Reign, but for now I'm adapting the possible storyline I would use when I actually did into X-Men. Takes place after X2, with some elements of X3 and comics thrown in. Please, read and review. If anyone has any ideas for the story, message me, I wrote this off the top of my head just now. And plus, if anyone has any actual ideas for the book that I will, WILL write one day, please, share. I have none in the idea bank that is my imagination. All I know that it has to involve Jay, some other characters that I haven't thought of yet, and lots of fog and silence. Maybe in the medieval period... or a fantasy land... *gets to thinking*