Running. That seemed like the only valid option at the moment.

The damn forest never seemed to end, and it was too late to find a hiding spot. Marian's legs were burning, she was loosing strength. It had been so long she had been trying to escape those who were pursuing her, but it seemed to be of no use. Sooner or later, they would have her again. Her throat became tighter at that thought, and her stomach churned. She put her remaining hope and strength in her muscles and prayed for a miracle.

If she hadn't been chased trough it, she would have loved the forest. She genuinely loved nature, and felt a need to be always close to a tree or some vegetation of any kind while in a city. Otherwise, she felt choked, insecure. Nature had always been her escape. And she hoped that today, it might be again.

If they caught her, she had one remaining option. But she refused to come down to it.

Not again.

Years ago, she had promised to herself that she would never do it again. Three years ago exactly. She had counted every day, every week that passed. She was persuaded this memory would haunt her for all her life, and she sometimes considered having her memory erased in some way.

A gunshot ripped through the fabric of her shirt and the bullet hit her arm. She clenched her teeth in pain and let out a muffled scream. She couldn't stop now. She kept running, and looked back quickly to see where her pursuers were. Their moving silhouettes were hidden by the bushes and low branches of the trees but Marian could hear their screams and their dogs barking. When she was about to look at her path again, she bumped violently into a rock solid tree.

Or what she thought was a tree. She fell hard on the ground, and let out a groan of pain as her arm hit it. Her head was spinning, and her strength was definitely abandoning her. After a few seconds of nausea, she looked up to discover with shock that it wasn't a tree she had bumped in. It was a man, or a beast, she couldn't tell. She swallowed hardly at his height. He was muscular and looked like he could easily snap her in two if he felt like it, and his eyes were furious. Marian didn't know if she preferred to die by his hand, or under the torture of the men who were coming.

With a grunt, the man moved forward. Marian thought he was going to crush her, but he stepped over her, walking towards her pursuers. Three men emerged from the bushes with heavy guns and two large dogs. At the sight of him, the dogs whined and ran away.

"Come back here, pussies!" screamed one of the men.

But they quickly forgot the dogs, because the second after they escaped, the men all shot the solitary one. Marian watched with horror the bullets penetrate his flesh, but strangely the man was still standing. His face was contorted with pain, but his body was slowly rejecting all of the bullets, one by one. He now looked furious and hurt. His gaze was murderous.

One man ran away when he saw three long metallic claws sliding out of each of his hands. The two others seemed surprised, but the one who seemed to be leading the pack pulled out a hunting knife from his boot.

Sadly for him, he didn't have time to use it. Because the second he wielded it in his hand, he already had the terrible claws planted in his stomach and the breath of the man in his neck. He choked, spit some blood and watched the claws slide out of him with horror. His companion also tried to run away, but the clawed man caught him with a grunt and slit his throat. At least, the death was quicker, but it was dirtier. The blood poured on the man's face and only made him more murderous and mad.

He let the corpse of his victim fall down, and his claws slid back between his knuckles. With a hiss, he looked at his fists. It seemed to slightly pain him, and Marian clearly understood why. These things were deadlier than death itself. Or maybe the man was a servant of death. She hoped he wasn't, because he was walking towards her now. She tried to crawl away, but her arm was killing her.

"Hey, kid." the man spoke.

"Please," she winced.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya. I promise." he held his hands up, as a proof of his goodwill.

Marian had no choice. She stopped trying to crawl away and collapsed between the ferns. She was out of breath and some strands of hair were stuck on her forehead damp with sweat.

"Thank you..." she breathed out, closing her eyes. Her body was exhausted to the point where she could just begin to sleep now. Only she wasn't alone.

"Hey, stay with me!" said the man gruffly.

Marian felt his strong arm make its way under her waist, the other under her knees.

"Wait, what are you doing!" she protested. "Put me down!"

The man didn't answer. She didn't even have the strength to kick. Then, something awakened in her body. A familiar feeling. One she would rather forget. She mentally pleaded for the man to drop her before it would happen, because she knew it would. It was unavoidable. It was the same old smell of panic mixed with powerlessness, and fear.

"Please, drop me! You can't touch me, it's gonna happen again! Please!" she began to cry out, gathering her last strength into these words.

"What the fuck are ya talking about kid, nothing is..."

Suddenly, electricity rushed through Marian's body. Her dark raven hair stood erect on her head and rushed with static electricity. Her heart stopped in her chest as she saw the same power pass through the man. She could read the pain in his eyes and weakly jerked away from his grasp. He hadn't screamed, but the way he had been struck by the electric bolt left him grunting in pain on the ground. He placed a hand over his chest and breathed heavily, probably while his body was healing.

"I'm so sorry..." Marian sobbed before falling into the darkness. Before her eyes slowly closed themselves, she saw the man standing up again, and walking towards her. If he wasn't a servant of death, she guessed he was probably an angel. Because what he had just suffered should have killed him, just like the bullets. She hoped he would bring her to heaven as she felt his body touch hers again to lift her in his arms.


[A/N: This was a short introductory chapter to the story. I hope you liked it! If you have any suggestions, I would be more than pleased to hear them! This is my first try at an X-men fic, and I'm really going to put some effort in this. I know where I want it to go so that's already a big step heheh!

The nicest thing would be leaving a review to let me know of your thoughts, but I'm already pleased if you have read it and like it! See you in a few days for next chapter! xxx]