Disclaimer: I do not own X-men Evolution, however I do own all characters mentioned in this chapter.

Authors Note: First this fic will involve Canon Characters, and they will play a very important part in the overall story. But for this chapter and for a few after it, they won't show up. Until said otherwise the characters are in Australia, and know only what they do about mutants from the news.

Secondly, none of the Original Characters, at least not to my knowledge, will have any romantic relationships with any of the actual X-men. Relationships yes, Romantic ones, no.

I've tried to keep the characters as flawed as possible and if they hint towards to being unrealistic and mary-sueish please do not hestiate to tell me. I love all feedback, good or bad, I just ask that if you are going to flame me you can back up what you say.

After this I won't have the disclaimer or authors notes above chapters unless it's issuing a warning or something else that needs to be adressed.

Now the long and boring Authors Note and Over, please enjoy!

Ever wonder what it would be like to be able to make all of your wildest dreams come true in an instant? Ever one wonder how great it would feel to be able to make everyone else the happiest they've ever been, or get rid of memories that scar people for life?

You'd think that people would love you for it, people would thank you, and that they would be forever in your debt for taking away the memories that haunt them, for giving them a life that they always wanted.

I thought so. But people always do the exact opposite of what you think. I could rid them of their nightmares forever; make them feel happiness in their darkest hour! I was salvation for tortured minds!

They wanted me dead. They wanted me rotting; they wanted me to burn, to die slowly, horribly. But not until they'd figured out exactly why I'd become a monster. A monster! Of course, I have the greatest gift to give them and they want to cure me of my disease.

Humans are not worth it anymore. I would have helped them once; I wanted to help them once. But now they will learn the error of their ways. They thought my gift was a threat before, before when I was helping, before when I was naïve. Well, wait until they see what a 'threat' my little gift can be.

Wait until they see.

o
o
o

"Hurry up Mari, you'll be late for school! If you miss that bus I will not be driving you!"

The fifteen year old teenager groaned and snuggled deeper into her covers, protesting weakly.

"Ok, so if I miss the bus and you won't drive me I guess I'll just have to stay home then?"

She wasn't sure if her mother had heard her and for a brief second thought she just might get away with it this time. A snort on the other side of the door answered her question. "Fine" She threw her small frame from the bed and launched herself at the wardrobe.

Her mother impatiently tapped her foot on the other side of the door.

"Marishka Anastasia Thompson if you are not dressed and ready by the time I open this door you will be grounded until you can drive!"

The door swung open to reveal Mari, dressed in her school uniform, black hair swept out of her face and held back in a high ponytail and a cheeky grin on her face.

Her mother tried to hold back her smile and covered it with a frown instead. "You get your little bottom to that bus stop right now young lady, your sister's already left"

Mari nodded, reached for her bag and smiled at her mother before bolting out the door.

She caught up with her younger sister in no time, the sibling having a habit for walking slower than a dead snail.

"Wait up" She shouted, panting from running down the hill. Her sister waited and opened her mouth to speak as soon as she was close enough.

"Did you hear about the news this morning?" She said excitedly.

Mari rolled her eyes, wondering if she could perhaps get her sister to be quiet if she offered her a muffin.

Without waiting for an answer she kept going, her eyes dancing with excitement.

"You know all those reports about mutants in the states? Well guess what! Don't guess, just listen, they found some here! One they caught on film, and she had green hair…"

Mari cut her sister off "So what, lots of people have green hair these days, its called punk"

Her sister continued not paying attention "And She was making plants from her fingers, and that's not all! There's this girl who can walk through walls! And another one who can…" she kept going on even as they boarded the bus, only closing her mouth when they were nearing the school.

"So what do you think about the mutants?" Her sister threw one final question before ducking her blonde head out the door.

Before Mari could answer her bubbly sister was gone already. Sighing she thanked her lucky stars she had only one sibling to deal with.

She walked slowly into the school grounds, taking her time and hoping to be late for class. As she walked she started thinking, about the up coming school formal, and who she was going to take.

She decided to check for possible candidates on her walk to class, discreetly inspecting all the male people she knew, and some that she didn't.

She immediately decided on No for four people, shaking her head as a particularly rude person brushed past her and reminded her self to take some pain killers for her oncoming headache.

She raised her head, fingers pressed to her temples when she saw him. The most perfect guy ever. She nearly dropped her bag. She definitely dropped her jaw, and at that moment, his eyes caught hers and she smiled. He returned it before walking off in the other direction.

She felt giddy and started to envision what it would be like to go to the dance with him. A perfect white wonderland, streamers, confetti, the works, filled her mind, of course, it was only the school gym, but it looked perfect in her mind.

He was there and she was wearing the most gorgeous dress, and he was dancing with her, waltzing slowly, almost as if there was no one else in the room.

She sighed and turned her attention to getting to class when she suddenly realized something.

Everyone around her was dancing, and the boy was standing in front of her, his hands on her waist and a dreamy smile on his face.

She screamed, pulling away from him and staring at everyone around her. They were acting like zombies and she wondered if this was a strange dream.

She screamed louder and grabbed her head, her headache was suddenly much worse. It was so bad she fell to her knees in pain, when everyone stopped what they were doing and started shaking their own heads.

The boy who was now only a few feet away from her walked up to her.

"Are you alright?" She stared up, obviously frightened, and then took the hand he offered her.

"Sorry, I know this sounds crazy, but …was I dancing…. With you…at all?" he trailed off.

She stuttered a short reply "N, n… no. Not t-that I know of. Um, I'm…ah, late for. Class…bye" She darted away from him, trying to ignore the stares from everyone around her.

They were all questioning each other, all of them remembering a dance, as if it were a dream.

o
o
o

Mari slammed the front door, racing into her own bedroom so glad to be home after the day she'd had. She'd been unable to explain why her day dream had been projected to everyone else.

It scared her, a lot. She didn't say anything to her friends, although they had been worried about her.

She put it all down to her headaches and a wild imagination, but the excuse was beginning to wear thin.

She was looking forward to a good nights sleep, one free of the strange happenings at school and the looming pile of homework on her desk.

"Mum? Dad? Anita?" Mari was lost. Her room was gone; she couldn't find it anywhere, in its place was as study filled with books and a computer, a clean floor and not a wardrobe in sight.

She wandered around some more, wondering what had happened. Hearing a car pulling up she realized that it must be her parents.

She raced to the door wrenching it open and smiling with relief when her parents and sister walked into the house.

"Hey guys, what took you so long to get back?" She exclaimed happily.

Her mother jumped "Excuse me, who are you and how did you get in here? Anita is she a friend of yours?" She eyed Mari warily.

Anita shook her head "No, I don't know her"

Her father growled "Young lady, Get out of my home now before I call the police"

"Dad?" She said, fear creeping into her voice "Are you guys joking? It's me, Mari, Your daughter"

Her mother was starting to panic "We only have one daughter, who are you? Please get out of our house now"

Mari stared at them, her mouth hanging open in shock.

"Get out" Her father roared, and she raced to obey, running from the house in panic.

She screamed as the door slammed after her, and found herself…..Clenching her sheets tightly, drenched in sweat.

She was breathing heavily and had tears streaming down her face "Oh Thank God, it was just a dream"

Checking the clock on her bed side table she realized that she'd slept in, it was almost nine in the morning.

Her mother was going to kill her, she thought, missing the bus again!

She opened her door, yawning slightly, wishing she'd gotten more sleep then she had.

"Mum?" She called sleepily.

He mother appeared from the lounge room, where she was packing some boxes, she peered around the corner and upon seeing Mari she squeaked in surprise.

"Hello? Are you from down the road?" She said curiously.

"No, Mum it's me" She said, growing very nervous with the sense of déjà vu.

Her mother frowned "Sorry?"

Mari knew where this was going and decided to turn around and go back to her room.

"Uh, never mind" She mumbled hurrying over to her room and opening the door, locking herself in.

She pinched herself. It hurt. "Ow" She muttered rubbing her arm.

"Ok, what the hell is happening?" She questioned, fear rising in her stomach.

"First things first" She said aloud, "Get dressed, everything's fine. Just a harmless prank that's all."

She changed quickly, brushing her hair and making sure she was presentable, and then opened the door to her room again.

This time she saw her father too, he was carrying a large box outside.

"Dad?" She called timidly, afraid of what the answer would be. She'd seen the bad side of her father before and she was his daughter. If he thought she was a complete stranger she didn't know what he'd do.

He spun around and glared at her "What are you doing in our office?" He asked venomously.

"Office? Dad it's my room?"

That was it! She thought, in my dream, my room was an office, but I was just in it and it was still my room. They'd remember if they saw it!

She opened the door "See it's my room!" She said triumphantly.

He glanced into the room and then glared at her, the young girl was pointing at two more boxes, a bare desk and his packed up computer.

"Get out of my house. It's an office, now leave"

Mari stuttered, spinning around and seeing her room exactly the way she left it. What was he seeing?

She was on the verge of tears and decided to leave the house for now, not wanting to be forcefully removed.

Sitting down on the curb she burst into tears. This was so wrong. How could they not know who she was? It was her dream all over again!

She felt so small. Hiccupping and turning around she realized something. Her parents were packing! They were going to move!

She checked her watch, and it still read the same date. No time had skipped.

She was feeling more confused then ever. She decided on sneaking into her room. They apparently couldn't see it and if they weren't going to let her in her own home she might as well take a few things.

She reached for her most loved possessions first, when the door handle spun.

She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around slowly.

Twenty minutes later she found herself outside, on the streets again, with no home, and threats of calling the police if her parents ever found her on their property again.

She'd cried the entire time she was lectured, and wanted nothing except to throw her arms around her parents and hug them. Except they hated her. Or at least, didn't have an idea of who she was.

She was starting to get a headache again, and this time, it was only getting worse with no sign of letting up.

She rounded the corner, thinking she would sit in the alleyway until it cleared. But she was met with a horrible sight. Two teenage boys were beating another boy, the only difference being the boy being beaten had cat like eyes, golden with a slit of black down the middle.

She gasped when she realized that he must have been a mutant. She wanted to help him, but she was too small, weak, to stop the other boys. She wished she could fight them, hit them for every time they hit the boy.

"Stupid mutant freak. Stay in America where you belong!"

Mari didn't think that was at all necessary, what did being American have to do with the mutants?

She vaguely remembered her sister babbling about the mutant hot spot in Bayville, a town in New York.

She imagined herself as a crime fighting, black leather covered dangerous woman, capable of kicking their asses to hell, and sincerely wished she could stop them.

She decided approaching them at least, getting them distracted so the boy could escape was a good option, except she found when she took a step; the two had already taken off running.

She frowned and the boy in front of her coughed, spitting up blood and what she thought was a tooth.

"Thanks" he muttered and then did a double take. "Hey, what happened to the leather?"

She looked at him oddly.

"You just walked around that corner dressed in…leather…matrix style y'know, and pulled out this gun. Sent em' packing!" He added as an explanation.

She raised an eyebrow.

He chuckled "Maybe just an overactive imagination. Thanks though, got them off my back"

She smiled sadly and then helped him to his feet. "I'm Mari"

"Will"

"Are you, are you a mutant?" She asked curiously, taking a closer look at his eyes.

He looked at his feet "Would it bother you?"

She shook her head rapidly.

"Yeah, yeah I'm a mutant" He mumbled and she couldn't see any reason for him to be ashamed.

"What's wrong with being a mutant?" She asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Because being a mutant is dangerous" He said darkly.

Before she could ask what he meant, he groaned, grabbing his side.

"Are you ok?" She asked worriedly, helping him to sit down.

"Yeah, just a little beat up, that's all"

She nodded sympathetically and sat down next to him "Do you want me to help you home?"

He closed his eyes "No. I don't have one"

She felt tears prick her eyes "Oh. That's ok then, because neither do I"

He looked at her "Are you a mutant?"

"No, but I woke up this morning and my parents didn't have a clue who I was. They yelled and kicked me out. It was so weird, I had a nightmare about them forgetting who I was, and when I woke up I walked into the living room…" She trailed off.

He studied her for a moment, considered something and then thought of the best way to phrase it.

"Maybe you are, I mean, a mutant that is" She opened her mouth to protest but he stopped her "What if you, I don't know, had the ability to make people think things. Maybe you accidentally erased yourself from their memories?"

She thought about this. The first thing coming to her head was the dream she'd had that night, about her family forgetting who she was. It was possible. Maybe her powers had kicked in right then and caused her to do the first thing that was on her mind.

She mentally kicked herself; it made it all seem so simple!

She leapt to her feet, excitement in her voice "Good, then I just have to put them back! How do I do that?"

Will looked back down at his feet, feeling very sorry for the girl, but what could he do? He hardly had control of his own powers, and he didn't even know exactly what her powers were.

"Mari I don't know how to do that. My powers are different"

Her smile dropped "But it's fixable?"

He nodded hesitantly "Maybe…..But I wouldn't know how to do that or how to teach you"

The two remained silent for some time, each contemplating their situations and searching for solutions.

Mari spoke first "Come home with me, I'll try and figure out how to fix it and then I can help you. We have a first aid kit in our garage"

Will nodded slowly "Ok, but we have to hurry, it's getting dark soon and I want to find a good warm place to sleep before the cats take them all"

She didn't even bother to look at him oddly this time, this guy was just way too weird.

They moved slowly, Will being unable to walk fast and Mari helping him the whole way.

When they finally reached Mari's home her heart broke in two. Her family was gone. Her parents car had left and the only sign that they'd ever been there was the moving van that was loading things up.

Will looked to Mari for answers but she had none to give and instead hobbled him up to the step.

The movers didn't notice them, so she shoved her hand into her pocket. Luckily, she had a key in her jeans pocket, and thanked god that she had forgotten to put them in the wash.

The whole house was empty. Wow, she thought, my parents move fast.

The door to her bedroom was open, everything exactly how she left it.

"I guess they couldn't see it….somehow." She said, taking a stab at why everything remained.

"Well, I don't have the first aid kit but I could take a look at those injuries now."

Will nodded and allowed himself to be moved to her bed.

As she lifted his shirt to inspect the bruises she questioned him. It turned out he was sixteen, a year older than her, and had been kicked out of home once his parents had discovered he was a mutant.

He'd been living on the street for four months, as he couldn't figure out how to change back.

"Change back from what?" Mari asked, smoothing the make shift bandage over his bruised side.

"That's my power. I can morph into a cat" He said somewhat proudly.

"Can you show me?" She asked timidly.

He shook his head sadly "I don't know how I do it. It just happens. I was stuck in the form for four months remember! It's a nightmare; so many things want to kill you when you're a cat. Although I did get fed quite a bit from some old people down the streets"

Mari smiled softly at that "Well, I guess, I can erase peoples memories right?"

Will nodded.

Suddenly a thought came to her, the dancing daydream at school the other day!

"Wait a second! I don't think erasing memories is all I can do! Remember the leather outfit?"

"Yeah" Will said with a smirk on his face. She smacked him, scowling at his expression.

"Well, the other day, at school I was day dreaming and when I snapped out of it, everyone was still… as if…they were acting out my day dream. They didn't know they were doing it either"

Will put the pieces together "So you're like…an illusionist"

"A what?"

"An illusionist. You dreamt something, or thought something and everyone saw it, thought it was happening. Like when you came around the corner, let me guess, you were imagining yourself the hero right?"

Mari nodded sheepishly, earning another smirk from Will and another smack.

"Ow stop it…Anyway, you can make people see what you want them to see? And you erased your parent's memories of you; I don't know how that works, but wow"

Mari nearly grinned, but caught herself at the thought of her parents. Not knowing who she was.

She slumped onto her bed, lying beside Will and staring at her ceiling.

"Yeah, well I wish I could magically make all of this back to normal. Where my parents loved me and didn't throw me out of my house…"

She looked over at Will who had an unreadable expression on his face. Immediately she caught her mistake.

"Oh Will, I'm sorry, I know how hard it must be for you..."

"No you don't" Will snapped, before staring into her eyes, seeing the hurt in the hazel depths. "Or maybe you do"

"At least it wasn't your fault they kicked you out, not entirely, it was just because of a difference, something you couldn't change. Mine got rid of me because I completely rearranged their heads"

Will reached for her hand and she took it. "Don't worry. Mutants have to stick together, right? We'll be safer that way."

Mari nodded in agreement and opened her mouth to speak when one of the movers barged into her room. "Hey what are you kids doing in here?"

Will immediately closed his eyes, hoping that the man had not seen.

Mari stood up "This is my room, I was just, ah, picking up some stuff before I met up with my …my parents" She lied quickly.

"We weren't informed about this"

"That's ah…because… Um, they didn't think it concerned you"

He studied her, eyes flickering between her and Will. "Alright." He said suspiciously, leaving them alone in the room.

Will opened his eyes and started to inspect the room, clothes, books, cupboards, everything it seemed, was still in the room.

"Why did your parents leave all this behind?" He asked, lifting a book and reading the title.

Mari sighed, reaching for her bag and dumping out its previous contents "Because they couldn't see it"

She began randomly stuffing objects into her bags, trying to fit all of her memories in at the one time. She started frantically trying to fit everything, not wanting to leave anything behind.

If they can't remember me, then I have to remember them, she thought desperately, reaching for her small box of photos.

They weren't going to fit so she lugged another suitcase and started stuffing, tears had begun rolling down her cheeks and she didn't even notice.

"It won't fit" Will took two steps across to room and grabbed her arms.

"Stop it Mari! Stop" She started struggling but gave up, falling limp and backwards into his arms.

"You can't take it all" He whispered into her ear.

"But I need it" She whispered back.

Will remembered his own family throwing him onto the streets, remembering that they had handled his mutation, not said a word about it. His eyes had been that way since birth, but they hadn't cared. It was the recent mutant attacks that did it.

Suddenly they couldn't bare to look at him, and screamed at him to get out. No clothes, no money, no food to speak of.

He'd felt so alone, so hurt, so desperate to be back with his family.

And now he was watching another girl, another mutant go through the same thing.

"Mari, its ok" She'd stopped sobbing now, and was just staring blankly into space.

"If we're going to make it Mari, you have to think. Take some clothes, not much, but enough, and take money." He emptied her bag once again and started packing it for her.

He lifted another pair of jeans and shoved them in, followed by two plain shirts. She handed him her wallet and he inspected its contents.

Aside from two ten dollar notes there was a bank card. He held it up "How much does this have on it?"

She glanced at him before answering in a monotone voice "Four thousand dollars"

Will's rare eyes widened and he dropped everything he held.

"What?" He questioned a shocked expression still on his face.

"It was for my car. They wanted me to save."

Will bent down and picked the wallet back up, stuffing that in the bag as well. Then he reached behind him and tore the sheet from her bed, folding it as compact as it would go and pushed it in as well.

He opened her wardrobe and searched around; Mari now apparently not quite so frantic got up and helped him find some warm jumpers.

Before long the small bag was packed and Will started to drag her from the room.

"Why can't we just stay here? I have a key we could…."

"You can't. It won't work that way."

Mari deep down, agreed with him on that. But another question came to her head "What about school? I have a formal coming up and I…"

Will stopped her again "Mari, don't you see. You're a mutant; you can't do those things anymore! You aren't part of their world"

Mari blinked at him, and he sighed, lifting the bag and putting it over his shoulders, and started walking at a furious pace down the street and into the alleyways.

Mari stared after him, glanced back once at her house. Memories of the previous night returned to her, eating dinner with her family, them telling her how proud they were of her, that they were going to go on a holiday one of these days.

She shook her head, and ran to catch up with Will.

She had a new life to think of now, and she had to face facts. Her parents didn't know her anymore.

Mutants didn't have families.