Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: Hey. I'm taking a few artistic liberties with the story here such as the idea of forces. But seeing as it's a fan fiction I really don't care!

Chapter 9: Dysfunctional Families

After the lesson Hannah had made a beeline for the large swimming pool in the grounds. Dropping her files on the grass she dived into the pool making hardly a splash. Her gills opened and water flowed through them allowing her to take in oxygen. Webbed feet propelled her easily through the water, she thought back to when she first gained her mutation and the speed that she could swim then. Ever since the chains had been clapped on her she had been unable to swim at her original speeds, yet there was nothing she could do about it now. She had lost so much since the chains had bound her, yet one day she would be free. She came to the surface and started swimming lengths in a perfect front crawl, slicing and efficiently through the water.

Finishing her length she dived down to the bottom again and started swimming lazy patterns, she prepared to break the surface when she felt the water temperature drop significantly. Looking to the surface she saw a faint sheen of ice start to cover the pool. She swum quickly to the surface and dived out onto the side before she was trapped.

"You could have just called my name!" She said as she stood up and looked pointedly at Bobby.

"I have been calling your name. You haven't been listening." Bobby said.

"Well I don't appreciate being turned into a human ice pop!"

"Ice pop?"

"Popsicle then. Had that ice got into my gills I would be done for!" Hannah said stalking towards him.

"I was only going to freeze the surface. Anyway I wanted to talk to you." Bobby said.

Hannah made a disgruntled noise before collapsing on the grass, obviously upset that her swimming session had come to an end. "Well be out with it then Mr. Frosty."

Bobby did not comment about the name given to him, he just sat down next to her. "Rouge's gone. We were meant to meet for dinner. Yet after the lesson she just vanished."

"Its dinner time all ready?"

"I think you are missing the point. Rouge's gone." Bobby said, wondering if his friend truly cared about anything beyond herself.

She seemed to pick up on his thoughts however and scowled at him. "You know damn well what I care about. Rouge is safe, she is at the train station and Logan is with her."

"Thanks that's all I wanted to know. If you are so dead set on the world being free. Why don't you do something about it? Rather than sitting here pottering around, so you freed a couple of whales, what about the whole of mutant kind?" Bobby retorted.

"What do you think I'm trying to do? I can do nothing whilst I'm clapped up in chains. As soon as I'm free, I will free the rest of man kind, humans as well as mutants."

"What are you some kind of martyr? There are far more powerful mutants than you in the world. How is having gills going to save the world? What are you going to do revive Atlantis?"

"Just bugger off Bobby, before you say something you'll regret even more. Don't worry about Rouge, the X-men have gone after her." Hannah said wanting to be rid of the hormonal teenage boy sitting next to her.

Bobby got up and turned to leave. He made it a few steps before whipping round to face her again. "And how do you know this stuff? How do you know exactly what is happening when no one tells you?"

Hannah stood gracefully and faced Bobby, they stood eye to eye and she stared him down. "Because I do. I know that your parents think that this is a prep school and you are a good little Homo Sapien. They don't know you are a mutant do they? What do you think they'll do when they find out?" She said deliberately baiting him now.

"Well at least I did not run away from my parents. Were they that bad that you even had to leave the country?" Bobby said getting more and more worked up.

"My parents tried to kill me. When I was eleven and my mutation kicked in I walked downstairs into the kitchen. All I wanted was a hug, someone to tell me it was all right and shall I tell you what they did? My mother screamed at the sight of me and held me down while my father approached my with a carving knife. Luckily my mutation allowed me to escape. Don't ever speak to me of dysfunctional families. At least there is still a possibility of your parents loving you when they find out."

Bobby backed away slowly, placing his hands out in front of him. He walked backwards all the way to the mansion, his eyes located on the swimming pool that had once been frozen over. Now steam bubbled and hissed from it.

OOOOOO

It was nearing nightfall the following night that Bobby approached Hannah. She was sat with Kitty and Jubilee in the corner of the large Common room and they were talking quietly. John and Piotr were playing table football unenthusiastically; they looked up as they heard the Iceman enter. They had all been subdued as the X-men had returned to the mansion empty handed the night before; Rouge was still out there somewhere. Although she had only been there a couple of days, friends were easily made among so-called outcasts of society.

The argument the day before had been heard by pretty much everyone in the school, as it had been just after dinner and many people were lounging on benches outside. People were in shock at the thought of Hannah's parents trying to kill her. Sure many of them were outcasts and made to runaway, yet none of them ran away because they feared for their life. The idea of parents killing their eleven year old daughter was unthinkable.

The swimming pool had been assessed afterwards as well; the steaming had caused no permanent damage it just needed to be filled up a bit more. This was a revelation though, as no one knew that Hannah had any other mutations other than her physical ones. The steam definitely was not Bobby's doing and so it had to have been Hannah. Most people brushed it off saying that it was an odd occurrence because she was angry. Yet whispers were still filling the halls.

OOOOOO

Hannah knew very well what people were saying about her. It did not bother her in the slightest.

Let them talk. I daresay they have nothing else to do with their time. We'll show them all won't we my precious.

She shook her head to get the odd thought out of her brain.

That is it. I'm having a break from writing that damn Lord of the Rings Fan fiction for a while! The blasted thing is frazzling my brain!

She looked up at the blonde haired boy who had walked up to her. "Yes."

"I came to say I'm sorry. I should never have got so worked up last night. It wasn't your fault. I just took it out on you. The thought that your parents nearly killed you because you are a mutant is horrific. I am so sorry." He said looking away from her gaze.

Hannah nodded and stood up to face him properly.

"It's just that your ability to know things unnerves people. Plus you have been one of my best friends now for over a year, yet I still know near to nothing about you." He said shrugging his shoulders.

"I know. There are things that I can't physically tell you. I want to, hell I want to so much, but I can't physically do it! I swear as soon as I can I'll tell you everything, we can have a big 'ask Hannah questions session' with pizza and ice cream. We can all sit down and you can ask me what ever you want. At the moment though it just is not possible." She said. "Just trust me for a little bit longer. As soon as I find Magneto we'll arrange it. Okay?"

Hopefully that should be within the next couple of hours.

Bobby nodded and wrapped his arms around the blue girl as she stepped closer to hug him. They stayed there for a while before breaking apart and smiling at each other. The whole roomed breathed a sigh of relief as the two made up. Arguments among mutants often turned nasty.

OOOOOO

Hannah was sat on the balcony of one of the second floor classrooms as she noticed four of the X-men run past her into the subterranean levels. She observed them for a second before her eyes widened, jumping up she ran to the nearest elevator and hit the 'down' arrow quickly, making sure to take the air freshener from the classroom. Arriving in the lower levels she peaked her head around the door and saw them kitting up. A quick look left showed her that the hanger door was open and the jet was online. Taking a chance she waited until Logan was pulling his hoodie over his head before making a break for the door. She prayed that his sense of smell would be muffled whilst the material was over his head, judging by the lack of thundering footsteps she was right.

Once in the hanger she quickly ran to the front of the jet and sprayed the air freshener around before chucking it hastily under one of the seats. Looking around she ran to the back and lifted up one of the galley seats and hid in the under seat compartment. Shutting the lid just as the X-men came running up the ramp to the jet.

As predicted the Wolverine's nose twitched madly and luckily it disguised her scent. She was hunched over in a crouch yet she could still here clearly enough what was happening.

"You go out in these things?" Came Logan's disgruntled voice.

"What would you prefer? Yellow spandex?" Came a very sarcastic response from Scott. The tension between the two was hilarious.

It was nearing the end of the flight that things started to go wrong for Hannah. Her position was not all that comfortable and one of the fins on her leg was trapped, not painfully, but it was uncomfortable. Adding to that the way in which she was squashed in her chains were digging painfully into her arms and chest. She bore this silently though, knowing that she would be free soon.

Then Logan had reached down to scratch his leg and found the can of air freshener. Her chest clenched as she heard his voice.

"Be alert, I think we have a stowaway on board."

Then to top it off Scott landed the jet, well landing was not quite the word. He shut the engine down when they were still a few feet above the water, making the jet fall before crashing into the harbour. This was when Hannah decided that a seatbelt would have been a good investment in her hideaway. Her head cracked painfully against the seat above her. Although she did not utter a sound, her eyes crossed in pain.

Logan heard the crack and after cursing Scott for his poor landing he went to investigate. Well this is what Hannah presumed as less than a minute later light flooded over her. She looked up sheepishly at the form of the large man above her.

"I was looking for my pen?"