Part I, Chapter 1: The New Begining


She remembered some things from back when her father was still alive, most of them hazy and unclear. But there was one memory she could go back to and feel as if it happened only yesterday.

They were in a park. Her mother's beautiful, blonde locks were constantly bouncing with every step she took, her father's hand around his wife's waist. Violette was held in her mother's arms, watching the world around her with interest. Her father took her from her mother and she was mesmerized by the way the sun reflected in his green eyes. His smile was enormous while he spoke to her in French.

"How are you liking the park so far, baby?"

She must have been around two and a half at the time, because she answered his question without a moment of doubt in perfect French.

"I love it here, daddy."

It was one of the last times she saw Videl Jeoffroi Girard. He died a week later in a car crash.

Her mother was devastated. That much she remembered.

They moved to New Mexico and her mom met Daniel and they got married and a year after her father's death, her mother gave birth to her brother.

Daniel hated her. And he hated her brother. And the fact that mom was pretty.

She remembered the nights she spent in the room she shared with her brother crying, while her mother screamed for help. The cheap beer Daniel reeked of. Darlene's black eyes and bruised ribs.

For years, her step father limited himself to only hateful glares and drunken slurs. But when he deemed her 'old enough' he started to hit her. She was afraid he'd do the same to Jamie, so she took it. When her tenth birthday came, the only thing she wished for was to disappear.

When her stepfather raised his hand to hit her that night, she vanished before his and her mother's eyes. Then, she appeared levitating near the chandelier.

She knew about the levitating part. She flew to the top of a tree instead of climbing it months earlier. She randomly started to stop midair while jumping. She got used to that part. She never disappeared before.

Daniel threw a book at her and then turned to her mother, screaming at her for giving birth to a freaking demon, of all things. Then, he ran to the kitchen to get a knife.

Violette remembered her mother's face at that moment. It haunted her dreams for years.

Darlene's curly blonde hair was greasy and unkempt. Her eyes were sunken and bloodshot, her skin a sick shade of yellow. Although her body seemed to be so weak it would break in half at any given moment, her voice was strong and unwavering.

"Go to your room. Now."

Nodding, she landed on her knees and after getting to her feet, ran upstairs.

They talked about it before. In hushed voices, making sure Daniel was at work and her brother wasn't listening.

'Go to your room' meant get out. It meant don't come back. It meant free yourself.

Her younger brother was sitting in darkness, hugging his teddy bear. She shut the door behind herself. He looked up at her, his blue eyes wet from tears.

"What happe-"

"Shush" She put her finger on her mouth, breathing heavily. They stayed like that, silent and unmoving, staring into each other's eyes, until she heard Daniel's screams. "Oh no."

She bolted towards the wardrobe, tacking out her backpack and putting some of her clothes in it. She only had another pair of jeans and couple of shirts, so she still had a lot of space left. She picked up the photos she kept taped to the bottom of the drawer and shoved them inside with some of the money her mom hid under her mattress.

Her brother sniffed.

"What are you doing?" He got up from his bed, his teddy held tightly in his hand.

She didn't answer, just kept digging through her drawer for a torch.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know" She successfully found it and put it in the backpack. "But I'm not coming back."

She heard him whimper while she zipped her jacket. She knew what question was gonna come next.

"Are you taking me with you?"
Her mother told her not to answer. To just let it hang in the air, that it will be enough for him.

He swallowed and sniffed, taking a step closer.

"Why?"

She took a deep breath.

"Mom will be able to take a better care of you without me around. And I'll be better off out of here. I can take care of myself" She put on her shoes and turned around, walking up to him. He was a good head smaller than her. She bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn't just disappear without telling him something as important as that. "Something happened. Turns out I'm… different. I'll have to manage."
He stood on his tip toes and wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged her, dragging her down towards the floor.

"Take Ted with you" He let go of her and gave her his bear. "He will keep you company."

She nodded, her throat closed up and her cheeks getting wetter with every passing second. She put him in her backpack, zipped it up and ran towards the window. She heard Daniel's heavy steps on the staircase.

"Je t'aime."

"What?"

She forgot. His father forbid Darlene from teaching him French.

"Hide in the closet" She choked out and climbed on the windowsill, before slowly gliding towards the ground. Violette landed on her feet and took off.

'I'll never see Jamie again.'

She left the Madrox household without looking back, just like her mother asked her to.


She took a bus to Albuquerque. Then a couple of trains to Houston. Then another one, to New Orleans.

She didn't remember much of her life in the city, but she remembered one thing. The feeling of safety.

She wasn't the only child on the streets. She met a couple of other unusual individuals during the years she spent there. One of them stuck out the most.

He was the best thief in New Orleans. Fast and agile, known as Démon Yeux Rouges. Demon's Red Eyes. Some of the more fearful said he was sent by Satan himself, to scare and rob humans. They believed Lucifer could see through his eyes, and that was why they were this unique red-on-black. He was described as a small figure, with eyes that glowed in the dark and haunted the dreams of small children.

In reality, he was a boy, one not much older than her at that. He had shaggy, brown hair that he always ran his hands through and clothes that always seemed to be dirty, although like all of the kids he had a couple of spare shirts. As the eldest of them, he set the rules.

After a couple of months he disappeared off the streets. A petite, black-haired girl took his place as the judge, lawyer and executioner in one. But they still heard stories about him every now and again.


Violette spent three years in New Orleans, begging for food and stealing from unsuspecting tourists. She tried not to get too attached to the other kids – some of them woke up one day and went for a quick round of pick pocketing and never again showed up in the Jackson Square or the alleys they slept in. She gave most of her clothes to some of the younger girls, while she received new (for her) ones from some of the older girls. Feeling like it hurt her pride, she gave some of her money to the older girls so they could get more new clothes, not wanting to just take from them. And although DYR's (as she called him) number one rule said first and foremost, you take care of yourself, his second rule said if you don't need or want it, give it to someone who does. That's how the clothes exchanges worked. She almost never used English during that time in her life, seeing as some of the homeless kids of French Quarter spoke only French. She tasted alcohol and cigarettes, the latter of which stuck to her. She came up with a fake name, too scared to introduce herself to anyone with her real one, fearing that somehow the word would get to her family. That's how from Violette Genevieve Girard-Madrox she became Gina Gerard. It was more American, but still resembled her birth name.


She met Mystique near the St. Louis Cathedral. Violette was invisible and about to stick her hand into the woman's pocket to take out her wallet, a move she practiced throughout the years, when she grabbed her wrist and turned around.

Found you she told her, smirking.

The things Mystique told her made sense. She found a weird comfort in the fact that she could label herself as a mutant. She knew what she was. And when the woman took her in, Violette was happy to have a place where she could leave her things and be sure they'll still be there when she came back.

Although she missed Middle School, Mystique made sure she caught up to her peers in the first year she spent with her. The fact that she was a pretty good student before she ran off helped her. She got rid of her accent. In September, Violette Girard started her freshman year in Bayville High.


She met Todd Tolansky underneath the bleachers during the second day of school, while trying to find a good place to have a smoke to calm her nerves. He was already there, sitting on a metal railing, trying to light up the cigarette he held in his mouth. She tossed him her lighter. The next day when she passed him in the hallway, he gave her a nod of recognition.


She was sent to the principal's office for the first time in the second week of school.

Although Mystique offered to get her some 'nicer' things she refused, knowing it would hurt her pride to take too much from her. She already gave her food and a roof over her head. So she stuck to thrift shops. She was wearing at least two sizes bigger jeans than needed with a couple of minor holes and a tank top.

Some girl made a comment about it. She punched her in the face.

Mystique yelled at her big time for it.

Violette was labeled the aggressive dyke by her classmates after the incident. She rolled her eyes at the things they said about her, just like Mystique told her to.


Through the years, Violette got rid of a lot of things. Some of her photos were ruined by the time and weather, all of her old clothes and her blanket were given to other kids, while her torch broke one night to her disappointment. But there were three things she always made sure were in perfect state.

One was a photo of her father and her, their matching hair and eyes making no room for doubts from who she got her looks. Another one, also a photo, showed a small boy around five, her brother Jamie. They looked almost nothing alike, his brown hair and bright blue eyes contrasting with her dark blonde strands and dark green orbs. They had the same ears, tan skin and nose though, and if someone looked hard enough, they could find more similarities.

The last thing she held onto throughout the years was Ted. Although his white fur turned to a more of light grey, he was still completely intact.


Mystique sat her down at the end of the summer vacation between her freshman and sophomore year and started to talk about what she expected of her. She didn't try to fool Violette into thinking they were the good guys. Actually, Violette herself thought that in order to survive, you couldn't play fair.

The woman showed her the whole 'X-Men' gang, which wasn't very large, to be honest, with only two kids her age, one back home for the summer vacation and two adults, one in a wheelchair. And after that, she waited for a response.

"So, you all have some snarky codenames, right?" She chuckled, putting her feet on the coffee table. "Give me an hour and I'll have mine ready."

Mystique smirked and left, probably for her bedroom.

Violette got up and walked over to a mirror she hanged on the wall, looking into her reflection's eyes.

'I'll be stuck with it. I can't blow it, or I'll be the butt of too many jokes.'

She thought about her powers. She could turn invisible and fly. Like a ghost.

'Ghost… Nah, sounds dumb.'

She sighed, flying back onto the couch.

'Okay, synonyms for ghost… Phantom? Not really. Spirit? Yeah, spirit… Nah, still idiotic. Maybe I should go for something more personal?'

She about finding some cheeky way to slip her name in.

'Violette… Sucks. What would I call myself, Violin? Violet? Just stupid. Gen? Gina, the friendly ghost? What was that for god's sake? Okay, let's think about my last name. Girard means…What does it mean?'

She turned on the computer in the corner of the room and double clicked the Internet Explorer icon.

'Now, only ten minutes till it's ready to go!'

After it finally loaded, she googled the meaning of her surname.

'Hard spear… Not really something I can work with.'

Then she searched for the meaning of her names.

'Violet… Like I didn't know that. And Genevieve is… White wave. Hm… Wave…But still, it's not related to my powers at all. Okay, what about my family's names…James is…Replace. No. Videl is…Life. Good to know but, no. And Darlene is…Tenderly loved. Ew.'

She turned off the machine and started to hit her head on the desk repeatedly.

'Back to the ghost thing, then. Spirit's fine, but it's not really… Badass or even remotely cool. I need more options, English's so du- Wait.'

Violette face palmed.

'French. It'll be personal and fitting. French for ghost is…Fantôme. Spectre. Got it!'

"Spectre."

"What?"

Mystique must have come down for a snack, because she had a pack of chips in her hands.

"Spectre. That's what you should call me. Spectre."

"Okay then, Spectre" The woman smirked, placing her hand on her hip, chewing the chips. "Do you have any ideas about your costume yet?"

Violette chose a simple sleeveless crop top with a small cleavage, white except for the shoulder straps and the neckline. She paired it with black, form-fitting pants and baby blue, laced up boots that reached her knees. She looked at herself in the mirror in her room and pursed her lips. Something was off.

She asked Mystique for some kind of a mask, explaining, that she just looked like she was about to go out partying instead of kicking butts. The simple, black harlequin mask did wonders.

"One more thing" Mystique gave her a white utility belt. Violette put it on and smiled at her reflection. She looked badass. The woman walked over to her, putting her hands on her arms and resting her chin on the girl's shoulder. "How do you feel?"

"Ready" She answered, biting the inside of her cheek.

'But for what?'

She got her answer.

It was a simple task: sneak in, get some information and, if it came to it, kick some ass.

Violette got to the cliff above the institute in the morning, binoculars in her hand. She looked closely at the fence, memorizing where the camera's surrounding the mansion wouldn't possibly see her. Knowing life, they were probably watching for heat signatures, too, and it would be sad if she got busted before even stepping a foot inside. She walked down and found a nice place to hide until the nightfall.

When the night came, she left her hiding spot in one of the surrounding trees and turned invisible, quickly flying over the fence.

'Piece of cake. Now, make sure not to fall into any of the traps they surely have.'

She glided over the line of trees, making sure not to accidentally kick any branches, not knowing whether or not they could detect that shit.

'Better safe than sorry.'

She reached the mansion, silently congratulating herself on getting this far without raising an alarm.

She flew in through an open window, happy that it led her to a corridor. If she would have flown into a room, she'd have to wait for someone to open the door for her. Freaky things sometimes happened, but doors opening themselves on their own accord were just suspicious.

She flew around, trying to find anything useful. The fact that that big of a mansion could be so empty and lifeless creeped her out.

After a while she felt as if something was poking her head from the inside. She froze, eyes wide, trying really hard not to panic. She felt a slight jab and suddenly she lost control. She became visible.

A camera stared right at her, the alarm started to wail.

'Okay, plan B.'

She kicked the camera and turned back around, ready to fly at full speed back, but then she noticed the bars that came out of nowhere over every other window. She wasn't foolish enough to believe that one was just left alone.

She heard footsteps.

'I really should have thought about plan C.'

She flew upwards, lying flat against the guy, Cyclops, ran past her.

'Okay, you've spent years on streets. You should know some sneaky tricks. Use them, goddammit.'

Violette looked around and noticed the ventilation system. She slowly made her way towards the crate and took a strong hold of it, resting her feet on both sides of it. She took a deep breath and pulled with everything she had. It got a bit loose.

'Okay, let's see what I've got here.'

She started to rummage through the pockets in her belt and pulled out a little screwdriver.

'Better than nothing.'

She put it into a small opening between the crate and the ceiling and kicked it.

Thankfully she caught the crate before it fell to the floor, but she lost the screwdriver. Violette flew in and put the crate back to its place with a few good pulls. She turned around and froze, hearing a low hum.

'Lasers.'

She pulled out a small torch and directed the light towards the wall. She saw small silver thingies on it.

'Must be coming out of them.'

She studied them for a moment, memorizing the combination they were positioned in.

'Up. Up. Down. Down. Down. Up.'

She turned off the torch and took another deep breath, before saying a quick prayer and closing her eyes. She rolled under two of them, curled up into a ball and flew above three, before rolling under another one. She opened her eyes, relieved.

'Thought I died for a moment there.'

She was happy to see another crate, this one leading out of the building.

'What I got: a lot of security. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm pretty small, I'd be dead by now.'

She kicked the crate, Happy to feel the chilly evening air on her face.

'I'm either a wimp or a badass. There's no in-between with this one.'

Just when she thought she'd escaped without bumping into any of the X-Men, The air turned heavy and wet.

'Shit.'

A lightning struck out of nowhere and a heavy rain started to pour out of dark grey clouds that weren't there only a minute earlier.

'Storm, was it? Now that's a cool name.'

Violette shook her head, deciding to dwell on the fact that her enemies seemed to find the best codenames they could later.

"Forecast said nothing about rain, you know. Too bad I forgot my umbrella" She yelled over the rain, bouncing of the edge and smoothly flying between the lightning bolts Storm brought down in front of her. The woman smirked, hitting one of the trees on Violette's right, making it fall. She wasn't expecting that and her instinct took a hold of her, making her stop in midair so she wouldn't get squished by it. Cyclops, who she didn't notice until now, struck her with his beam, making her groan in pain and fall onto the ground.

'Enough.'

She sat up straight, shocked to hear a voice in her head. She tried to pinpoint the accent.

A wheelchair stopped in front of her, making her look up right into the eyes of Charles Xavier.

'Busted does not even cover it.'

Xavier gave her a small smile, but she was pretty sure he wasn't as happy as he appeared to be.

"It's not every day a young mutant busts into our institute without raising an alarm" British. Now she could hear it clearly.

"Well, it's not every day I do this kinda thing" She started to look around to try to find an escape route, thankful for the fact that her eyes were covered by the mask. No need for them to know what she was thinking about. "Now, could you please get the hell out of my head? It's bad enough you did something to my powers."

"I apologize, I was simply trying to find out more about the person who decided to break into my home" He offered her a hand. "I'd call it more of an accident."

She felt as if her head was finally free, no probing or funny feelings. She could feel her powers unlock. Violette ignored the outstretched hand and got up on her own, dusting her pants off.

"Yeah, well, can happen to anyone."

"Miss Girard" She froze when she heard her name on his lips. Every fiber in her body told her to run till she still could, or he'd find out more than just her name. "I'd-"

"To be honest" She put on a brave face and put one hand on her hip, the other's fingers resting just below her collarbone. "I prefer Spectre."

She vanished and quickly flew upwards at her top speed, before making a sharp turn and going back to the boarding house. She felt another gentle probe and then a massive headache.

'Too much powers for one evening.'

She slowed down, until she practically came to a stop in front of the Brotherhood of Bayville's Boarding House sign, before collapsing in the front yard. She felt herself turn visible again, before losing consciousness.


She woke up in her bed, her costume replaced by a loose t-shirt and sweatpants. Mystique was standing in the doorway, a frown on her face.

They looked at each other in silence, while Violette slowly sat up. She tried to think about anything useful but her mind was… Blank.

"I don't remember anything" Mystique didn't say anything, just stared at her, anger evident in her eyes. "Except for the fact that he started to dig through my brain when I barely stepped a foot inside. I don't know what happened, but it seems that I don't react well to people messing up my head."

The woman still kept quiet, just glaring at her, before turning around and walking out of the room.