If you haven't read my first fic, "Wisps of Smoke," you may want to start there to see how this fits into the X-Men universe. While Remy doesn't make an appearance in this chapter, just hang tight. You will see him soon.
Jaleena Greyson stood on the front porch of her home—well, her old home. She had one suitcase sitting next to her with as many of her belongings as she could fit stuffed inside of it. She had been at this house for almost ten months—it had been a new record in her life of bouncing from one family to the next. She had really thought she had found a home and had enjoyed regular meals, a room of her own, and genuine affection. Then the elderly woman she had been living with had a sudden stroke and would now be in a permanent care facility. Now she was out on her own again. She waited for the familiar van to pull up to the curb, usher her inside, and take her to her next "home." She was only twelve years old, but she was experienced enough to know better than to expect a new mother or father to be waiting for her with open arms.
On the way to her destination, she was told it was to be a group home that already had nearly a dozen children. Leena did not react to the news. There were pros and cons of any new situation. She knew that bad things could happen in even the most carefully tended home, and that genuine care could come in the form of people living in some of the most run-down locations.
She arrived, was shown her room—it would be shared with 7 other children, they explain, gesturing to the four sets of bunk beds, one against each wall. She was left to "get settled" before going down to help with dinner, and she looked around to find a place to hide her most treasured possessions—a pair of patent leather low-heeled shoes the old woman had given her for her birthday, a candy bar she had saved, and the thick wool coat that she wore. She had learned in the past that hiding things under the mattress was the first place the others would look if they came scavenging. She set her case on the bed and was able to crawl onto one of the top bunks to stuff the secret items into the ceiling by moving away one of the drop-ceiling tiles. Hopefully whoever slept on this bunk would never get curious.
She slowly trudged her way down the stairs and toward the kitchen she'd been shown on the quick tour of the house. There were two other children already there. One was a boy scraping the skins off of some spotted potatoes. He had whitish hair and some sort of disfigurement. The arm and hand holding the potato was much larger than his body, the shoulder bulging up past his ear, the arm looking surprisingly muscular. The rest of his body looked much as it would for any of the boys she'd run across—skinny, with bones protruding at the hips and chest, knees that were knobby, and hands graced with bruised knuckles. He didn't look up when she entered, but kept his head bent over the work, his smaller hand clumsily dragging the dull peeler against the potato.
Another girl was washing dishes. She did stop what she was doing, turning to look at Jaleena with narrowed hazel eyes. She pulled her hands out of the dish water, a knife clutched in one fist. She held it almost casually. "You the new girl?" She asked as she turned on the water to rinse the knife. When Jaleena nodded, the girl picked up a towel to dry it off. She eyed Jaleena's well-mended clothing and clean hair. "You new to a home?" When Jaleena shook her head in the negative, the girl paused, considering. "You going to cause any trouble here?"
Jaleena's eyes widened, and she shook her head quickly. The last thing she wanted to do was to make an enemy in the first 20 minutes. "No," she murmured. "I just want to do what I can to help." She looked around the kitchen. "Can I help you with dinner?" The girl pursed her lips, and her eyes darted to the boy. If Jaleena hadn't been looking, she would have missed the very, very slight nod of his head.
The girl gestured to the table, "You can cut up those potatoes Joey's peeling." She took two steps toward Jaleena, kept her hazel eyes locked on the smaller girls, and handed her the knife, handle first. Carefully and slowly, Jaleena lifted one small hand to take it. She tried to keep her fingers from shaking, but couldn't quite manage it. She went to sit down at the table across from the boy. The girl remained standing where she was in the middle of the room, watching her.
Nervously, Jaleena reached for a peeled potato and began to cut it into small squares. The girl staring at her only made her more nervous, so the pieces were uneven and lopsided. She looked at the boy. "So your name is Joey?" She asked softly, "My name is Jaleena, but you can call me Leena if you'd like." She finished one potato and reached for another. He didn't look up, and in fact seemed to bend his head lower over his work. "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but I'm a little nervous. It's always like that in a new place, isn't it?"
At the sound of footsteps, she looked up with startled eyes to see the girl standing beside Joey. "He doesn't want you to look at him. He's embarrassed." She gestured to his arm.
Jaleena nodded and turned back to the boy again. "I don't think you should be embarrassed." She quartered a potato. "I think it just shows how strong you'll be once you grow up. Maybe it's just that the rest of you has to catch up with your arm." She cut those quarters into small pieces before speaking again. "I bet you're really good at arm wrestling."
To her surprise, she heard a muffled chuckle come from the boy, and she was surprised to see the girl's hand rest gently on his shoulder, a smile on her lips. Slowly, he peaked up at her from between greasy strands of white hair. She could see that his nose was much too large for his face as well. He looked up at the girl again and smiled at her. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly soft and had a Scottish burr to it, "This is Laurel. We stick together."
Laurel nodded in response to that and pulled out a chair. "This place isn't too bad. They feed us regular at least. You'll get more than normal tonight because they always put on a little more of a show when a new kid comes in. You better enjoy it while you can."
Jaleena nodded and grabbed the last potato that was peeled. Laurel continued talking, giving her the rundown of the home. She named each child living there and whether they were friendly, shy, or bullies. Jaleena moved on to chopping the vegetables on the table as she listened, mostly silent but asking a few questions when they occurred to her.
When everything was finished, the dumped the vegetables into a roaster with a hunk of some sort of meat, and Laurel eyed her again. She looked at Joey, who nodded almost imperceptibly. "We're going outside to have a smoke," she explained. "You can come with us if you want."
Jaleena nodded, realizing from her past experiences that this was an important opportunity to make friends. Normally, she spent at least the first month trying to avoid the meaner children, and having allies early on could help her with that. "I'll meet you outside?" She mumbled before turning and dashing back up the stairs. When she joined the two on the back stoop, she pulled something from her pocket. "I thought…well, I thought I'd share a treat before dinner. To thank you for inviting me." She pulled out the candy bar, just a bit beat up, and held it out. And with a few smears of chocolate, Jaleena made her first, life-long friends.
The three bonded over a shared cigarette and candy bar, and they spent the next two years watching out for each other. They established a sense of family that none of them had ever felt—a true meeting of equals. Joey accepted Jaleena almost immediately, and he later told her it was her acceptance of his deformity and her very lame joke that had made him like her. Laurel had been more grudging with her respect but eventually was affectionate toward the other girl. Jaleena learned that the two had been inseparable since they were young children when they had been housed with the same family. Since that time, they had worked the system, lying and saying they were siblings, though they looked nothing alike. Over the years, they shared more and more about themselves, even daring to share some of their dreams for the future. They had all been burned in their young lives, so trust came slowly, but it did come.
To Joey's excitement, he did grow into his arm. By fifteen, much of the rest of his body had filled out. He looked more like a muscular twenty-five year old body builder than a young boy, but his ability to protect the girls made up for any awkwardness he felt in his appearance. They stuck together until they were told they would be separated since funding ran out for the home. Since Jaleena wasn't "related," there was no way they could guarantee she would end up with Laurel and Joey. At that point, they decided to set out on their own, leaving the sporadic security of the "system" behind.
They spent their first summer sleeping any place that offered shelter, taking turns keeping watch, and learning how to deftly pick pockets or play on the sympathies of strangers to keep food in their stomachs. It was during this time that Laurel learned of her powers: she could melt metal objects with the touch of her hands. Being her optimistic self, Jaleena was able to keep her calm long enough to make her see the bright side—they'd never again have problems picking a lock, and Joey admitted that it made him feel less of a freak for being so large. The secret seemed to only strengthen their bond.
As fall approached, they realized the importance of finding more secure lodgings. It wasn't long before they came across a few other "special" teenagers. They met StarFire, a young girl who had features resembling that of a cat, and her best friends Violet and Crake, who were about three years older than the rest of them. Violet had sprouted small, transparent wings at an early age which led to her taking off to avoid becoming a medical experiment, and Crake had the ability to raise the temperature of things to that of molten lava. The six decided if they pooled their resources, they could not only find a place to share, but would be able to protect it as well. When Jaleena realized she could control the wind, it didn't seem to surprise anyone that she had a power as well. Their situation wasn't perfect, but it worked for everyone, and quite unexpectedly, their family doubled. For the time being they were safe, and for them, that was enough.