A/N: Hello! I won't make this long, just letting you guys know this is pretty much my first story. Iwant you guys' opinion if it's worth continuing or if it just ... sucks. Anyways, leave your thoughts :)

I do not own anything besides the O.C ;)

The cold, wild wind was loudly whispering past in her ears, pushing against her body making it even harder to move. She was breathing, loud. She could hear the crunching of the leaves under the pressure of every step she took, betraying her. She was running as fast as she possibly could while trying to avoid the trees, branches and roots in her way, but she could still hear them. Despite her efforts, it seemed they kept getting closer and closer. Maybe she was slowing down. She heard the dogs barking, guiding these men towards her and once in a while, she noticed a flash of light coming from behind her, someone screaming, more footsteps following… They were getting closer, she was getting tired.

And there it was again, that odd, yet great feeling overwhelming all her senses. A shiver traveled every inch of her skin, from her head to her toes, followed by a pleasant wave of heat. A tingle started in her fingers, threatening to evolve into something… more. She knew it couldn't be bad; it was something that felt necessary, like a natural instinct. She knew it would probably save her – but it might also betray her.

She was aware that her mutation was beastly, feral. What she did not know was how her body would react to a first change of form. Or whatever it was supposed to be. She didn't even know herself what she would look like and how it would help her getting away. Wouldn't it attract the dogs even more? Smelling another animal would definitely trace their way to her. What was right?

Lost in her mind, she failed to notice an enormous root coming out of the ground. She yelped in surprise as she felt herself fall down. To make matters worse, her head hit on a rock as she felt her body come in contact with the cold, wet forest floor. For a few seconds, she was disoriented and dizzy. Her head was pounding as she unsuccessfully tried to stand back up. Falling back down from the dizziness, she put her hands on each temple, as if it would help her come back to reality. She just could not get her head to stop spinning. Fearing the worse, she slowly opened her eyes. They were coming, fast. Her vision was blurry, but she knew it was them. They were screaming things she couldn't comprehend at the moment; the dogs were going crazy, there were lights everywhere, footsteps surrounding her … there was a bright, sudden flash of red, then her limbs started getting numb, her vision failed as well as her hearing. She finally passed out with those last words in mind: They have found me.

Dark. It was dark. And cold. Where was she? What happened? No … Oh no. They had found her.

In a normal state, her heart would be racing, but she felt as though it didn't even have the energy to do so. Pain shot through her head, reminding her how she had gotten caught. She was laying on something hard, yet somewhat soft. The room was cold, the air smelled … different. She knew for sure she wasn't outside. While regaining consciousness, she noticed her eyes were still shut. She tried to open them fast, but even her eyelids were heavy. She cracked open her eyes which were immediately attacked by the brightness of the room. The intense white color on the walls felt aggressive on her newly opened eyes.

The blur in her vision disappeared. She could start to make out the environment around her, but something stopped her; the sound of something sliding. A door? Yes, footsteps followed that sound. More than one person was coming in. Even if she wanted to run away, how could she? Even though now, her heart could start racing, it didn't give her the energy to fight, to run.

"There is no need to fight, dear. You are safe here." A soft, reassuring voice said.

Safe? How could she possibly be safe…

She turned her head towards the sound of the voice; a small, bald man in a wheelchair was looking at her. He was accompanied by a tall built man with brown hair and strange looking red glasses. Next to him was a sleek beautiful woman with red hair and piercing eyes softened by a genuine smile. From behind her came a dark-skinned white haired woman.

She wasn't totally back from her head injury yet, so she remained a bit confused. She was trying to figure out who they were, because she had seen them before…

"I've a feeling you are familiar with us. My name is Professor Charles Xavier, I am the principal of this school. Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. I assume you have heard of it?"

Yes, she had. She looked him in the eyes, while slowly sitting up, ignoring the shooting pain in her head. She could not believe that she was finally here, after months of travelling, running away, she was finally here, safe. It felt a 1000 pounds were lifted from her shoulders. She ended up sitting on the edge of the small hospital bed; her eyes left his gaze as she realized tears had formed in them. Looking down, the tears spilled and she breathed an immense sigh of relief. Smiling, she whispered a small "thank you", while more tears came. They had saved her from a horrible death. She did not even want to think about it.

"I don't want to intrude your privacy, but would you mind telling us your name?"

She looked up, smiled even more as they smiled back at her, and she said:

"Elena."

An hour went by as they explained to her what had happened: She had been close enough to the mansion for the professor to locate her with Cerebro. They immediately went after her, knowing she was in trouble. They found her as the men got to her. The red flash of light came from Scott, the brown-haired man, who had the power to throw lasers from his eyes, which explained the glasses. They knocked everyone out and brought her to the mansion. After making sure her head was alright and nothing was broken, they let her sleep a few hours to let her body rest.

The professor and Jean – the red-haired woman – then proceeded to show her where she would be staying at, and explained how everything worked. Since Elena was already 19 years old, she had already graduated so it was unnecessary for her to attend school. However they offered to give her a job as a teacher once she was comfortable and all settled in. She accepted, but agreed that she wanted to get settled in first.

She was now alone in her enormous room, admiring how beautiful it was. She had a queen bed, a large dresser, a walk-in closet, her own bathroom with a shower, and the best of all, a very wide window that had a wonderful view on the forest. Things could not get any better.

She heard footsteps in the hallway. She was so bubbly and happy, she decided she was not shy tonight and she was going to open to door to say hi to the person passing by, hoping to make a friend.

She practically ran to the door, opened it and stepped outside of her room, only to bump into something rather large and hard. She caught herself on the wall behind her, and she looked up.

A man stood in front of her, tall and very well built. He looked gruff, not shaved and very … feral-like. He looked absolutely…delicious. She couldn't stop staring at him.

"Could watch where y'er goin'." His voice was rough, intimidating.

"Y-yes, I'm sorry."

He started walking away, chuckling. Before he disappeared down the stairs, she yelled:

"I'm Elena by the way."

"Yeah, sure"

Well, this was going to be very interesting.