A/N: Um…while I was away I was planning more of the plot for this story, and I just figured out something that would make it even crazier! However it's still chapters away…I always knew this fic would be long but…it might end up longer than I ever planned. Anywho, why I told you this was that Mary's attitude might be changing a bit as she works with her powers and tries to discover herself. Sometimes I think Mary is trying to take over the fic. It's a Pyro fic! But actually the character development of Mary is just as important as Pyro's since…well…I can't tell you too much. Lastly, thanks for your reviews! I'd love to chat to some of you and hear your opinions. It's always nice to hear how another person perceives the story.

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"This is crazy," said Pyro staring at the two packs of bottled water he'd just set down in the grass. The water was for Mary of course. They'd met up just an hour ago, in the kitchen after lunchtime. Storm and Jean had already left and the professor and Scott were getting ready to leave.

"Perhaps, but I have to try," said Mary sitting down. John sat down beside her and watched her open a bottle of water.

"Do you really have to drink all this?" he asked, watching her drink half the bottle in one draught.

"As a precaution, yes." It was Mary's plan to test out her powers again and she didn't want to take any risks. With a bottle in one hand, and the other outstretched, she began forming one of her orbs. John watched with interest. He'd never really been audience to a show of her powers.

Once the orb grew to the size of a medium sized grapefruit, Mary placed down her bottle and took the orb in both hands.

"Can I touch it?" asked John.

"I don't know…" She looked at John solemnly, as he slowly lifted his hand and moved his fingers towards the orb. As his fingers connected with it, John gasped softly and pulled back his hand.

"What happened?" asked Mary, looking to John worriedly.

He shook his head. "My…my hand is…numb. I can't feel it." Mary tossed the orb away towards a patch of flowers. She got up on her knees to see the effect, and John did the same. As the orb hit the ground there was a bright flash of white light and then it disappeared. The flowers had all wilted. John looked down at his hand wondering if it would just suddenly waste away, but as quickly as that thought had entered his mind his hand slowly regained its warmth with the pin-prickly feeling as when your foot fell asleep.

"It's better now," said John, seeing how worried Mary looked, for the flowers remained drooped. Mary tore her eyes away from the ruined flowers, casting a swift glance at John's hand. She picked up her water bottle and finished the contents.

"What did it feel like?" she asked after awhile.

Click, click, click…

John was messing with his lighter again, probably happy to have the use of his hand back. Her question surprised him a bit. Somehow he'd figured she'd have known. "Um…" he shrugged. "At first it was cold…almost like ice and then suddenly I couldn't feel at all. I think it was spreading up my arm…" John looked at Mary's face, but she was staring at her empty water bottle. "Mary…Mary?"

Mary was frustrated. She hated not knowing how to use her powers. She didn't even know what her powers were exactly and more over she hated the fact that the professor probably did and wouldn't tell her. "It doesn't matter…" she heard Pyro saying. "You did nothing wrong."

"Nothing wrong?" she snapped so suddenly that Pyro almost dropped his lighter (which he was still clicking) in surprise. "Sure…that's easy for you to say, when you can just parade your powers any time you like."

"What?" John was surprised to hear Mary talking like this. It was the last thing he'd expect her to say. "Are you talking about what happened at the museum yesterday?" He was under the impression that she'd enjoyed it. He'd thought she was having fun.

"Yes and no." Mary opened another bottle of water. "You don't understand Pyro…this is a school for mutants, but I'm not even learning the things I need to know! I don't know what my powers can do…and now…I'm afraid of doing something stupid…"

"At least people aren't waiting for you to do something stupid," muttered Pyro.

"Stop complaining. You just don't know…" She wasn't finished but Pyro cut in before she continued.

"Complaining? I'm just stating the truth. You're not the only one who feels inadequate." Pyro wondered how they could start arguing so soon. He wanted it to end. He had to make an effort. Mary was scowling at him so he added quickly. "Hey…why don't you try something else on me…do the...er…psychic-non-psychic thing…"

Any other day she probably would have agreed, but she'd already seen the effect it'd had on Jubilee and didn't want to risk anything else happening to Pyro.

"You just don't get it…" she said shaking her head. John frowned and watched as Mary slowly got up and walked away, taking a pack of water with her.

"Damn it!" said Pyro jumping up. For a moment, he'd thought to run after her, but he settled in kicking the remaining packet of water bottles.

Mary pitched an empty bottle into the kitchen trash. She'd downed it in no more than five minutes, in an effort to perhaps drown her anger. Mary was noted for sometimes having a quick temper, which usually meant she was under some stress- and she was.

With a heavy sigh, Mary leapt off the counter she'd been sitting on, leaving her package of water behind. She headed towards the kitchen door, staring at her feet and humming to herself. She felt another energy around her and looked up- too late.

"Oof!" she almost fell backwards as she ran into Logan. Logan had a slightly amused look on his face, for he'd been standing in the hall watching her approach, waiting to see whether she'd notice him or not. Or not- until now, of course.

"That's an interesting way to greet someone," stated Logan, crossing his arms and starring down at her, mainly her striking blue hair. Since their previous brief and awkward meeting, Mary's hair had been recurring in Logan's thoughts. Not only was it not everyday you saw a person with coloured hair, but Logan had sensed something in the girl. Something dark. Something he related to. But naturally, Logan wouldn't just bring this up and he intended to keep the conversation light. "What are you, some kind of rebel?"

Mary grinned at his choice of word. "You never know."

Logan responded with a grunt.

"You don't look like much of a teacher…"

"That's because I'm not much of a teacher."

Mary chuckled and nodded. There was a sudden pause, and Mary let her mind seep into Logan's. She couldn't help herself, Logan noticed an odd expression on her face.

"You alright kid?" he asked, staring back at the wall Mary spacey eyes were focused on.

She shook herself out of it. "Of course." Her eyes shifted around her surroundings and then she asked, "So the others are gone, yeah?" Something in the girl's hopeful tone made Logan suspicious, but then again, he was only the 'babysitter'.

"I'm in charge, if that's what you mean…." He answered carefully. To his surprise, the girl grinned at him.

"I guess we're in good hands then…" Mary lowered her eyes to the floor. "I…uh…"

"…have to go?" finished Logan, knowing the conversation couldn't last forever, and they were running out of things to say.

"Yes. Exactly." As Mary walked away, Logan had the strong inkling that she was up to something. He needed something to do. Perhaps look into Scott's office…or Jean's. He might learn a thing or two about them both.

Hours later in the evening hours, Pyro sat in his room, unable to sleep. All afternoon he'd been mulling over his argument with Mary, trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. During dinner, that wasn't really organized since Logan was in charge, Pyro had caught a glimpse of Mary (with the usual, Jubilee, Kitty and Siryn); Mary didn't even look at him. This pissed John off for he hated being ignored. He had to sit with Bobby and Rogue again. And now, Bobby knew something was wrong- which John also hated! John didn't want Bobby to think he was a failure at relationships, especially not after all the times John had commented on Rogue not being the ideal girlfriend.

Click, click, click…

John sighed and looked at his clock. It was nearing midnight. He wondered if Mary was still awake. It was now time for him to swallow his pride and apologize, even if he wasn't one hundred percent sure what he'd done.

Slipping a shirt on, John crept out of his room, noticing that his roommate, Bobby was also missing. It wasn't hard for John to sneak down to the hall of girl's dorms. He doubted Logan would be doing a midnight patrol.

Outside of Mary's door, Pyro knocked. He waited. Nothing. "Mary?" he whispered. Nothing. Trying to be patient, John waited at least five minutes longer, but after getting no response he assumed Mary was either dead asleep, or trying to ignore him.

Downhearted and even more pissed off, Pyro made his way back to his bedroom. At the moment, he hated just about everything.

However, meanwhile, Mary wasn't even in her room, but her state of being wasn't so well either. After her encounter with Wolverine, Mary had shut herself in her bedroom with the hopes of practicing her power more. For hours she stretched her senses to track the auras in the rooms nearby, not concentrating too hard but trying to read the different emotions and guess what people they were.

Things seemed to be going well, but the more she tried to expand her reach, the more blurry the information read in her mind. Eventually she had to stop for fear of getting sick. Mary felt terrible. The world seemed to be spinning andshe had used up the last of her room's water supply hours ago.

Mary stumbled off her bed and managed to get to the door. Slowly she made her way down the hall and stairs, tripping a few times and up against the wall for support. By the time she'd made it to the ground level, Pyro had been knocking at her door.

Slowly but surely Mary made her to the kitchen. The light was on and someone was already inside, but Mary was in no condition to have noticed. She stood in the doorway, tilted over to the side. Then her balance failed and she began to fall over.

"Mary?" A pair of strong arms caught her before she hit the floor. Mary mumbled something inaudible and soon she was being lifted over to a chair at the kitchen table.

What am I doing, she thought to herself and opened her drowsy eyes. She spotted Bobby across the room, by the fridge. He turned around and rushed over to her, holding and open bottle of water. It had a lime green straw inside. Bobby took a seat beside her and offered Mary the bottle. Instead of taking it, Mary leaned over and wrapped her lips around the straw and began drinking. Bobby smiled. "Mary, what have you done to yourself?" He noticed she was rather pale and was concerned.

Mary lifted her head and took the bottle from Bobby. It was half finished. "Nothing that can't be fixed." Bobby shook his head. There was a moment of silence as Mary finished her water and Bobby stared at her. A million ideas were rushing through his mind like a stream, not half of them decent.

"Bobby…"

Bobby looked over at Mary saw she had stood up and was walking towards the fridge. He stood up as well, taking a few steps in her direction.

"Thank you…" She'd grabbed two waters and left the kitchen before he could say anything else.

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Mary didn't plan to head back to her room any time soon and was walking a bit aimlessly down the hall. The sound of voices and static reached her ears and led her to the living room.

There she found a boy everyone called 'Jones' who was watching television.

"What are you watching?" she asked, glancing at the television screen. "…or not…" She noticed that the channels were rapidly changing, controlled by the boy's blinking eyes.

"Nothing good ever plays this late," Jones stated. "Except pornos."

Mary laughed, sitting down in an armchair near the couch Jones was on. She felt a bit chilly in her tank top and thin pajama bottoms, so she wrapped her arms around a pillow for comfort.

"Can't sleep?" she heard Jones ask. She was about to answer, but it turned out it wasn't she the question was directed to.

"How can you tell?" asked a deep voice. Logan! Mary turned her head to the doorway and there he was.

"'Cause you're awake," answered Jones, not looking away from the flashing television screen.

"Right. How 'bout you?" Logan noticed Mary huddled in a chair partially behind Jones'. His stare made her look away to the TV.

"I don't sleep," answered Jones flatly.

"And you, Mary?"

Mary tentatively looked back at Logan. "I can't sleep. Not now."

Logan seemed like he wanted to say something, but held it back and soon left. After a while Jones said. "That guy creeps me out." Mary said nothing, but concentrated on tying her hair up in a ponytail- messy, but it got her hair out of her face, a bit.

Mary looked back to the screen and noticed the boy had finally settled on a piece about rats. She stared at the screen, trying to get herself interested. For the first time, Jones looked away from the screen and at the doorway. He slowly got up and left the living room.

"…but now and then every mother needs to get away…" spoke the TV lady.

Mary heard Jones' voice addressing someone. Logan? Bobby?

"…without her the babies are helpless…"

-thump-

Mary got up from her seat and peered out into the hallway. Her eyes widened as she saw Jones' limp body on the floor. There were darts sticking out of his neck. She sensed non-mutants energies nearby and slipped back into the living room. In the distance now she heard the beating of helicopter blades.

Quietly, Mary moved across the living room heading for the other exit, as she ran into the hall she spotted two armed men staring straight at her. One lifted his gun, and before Mary realized what she was doing, her mind 'latched' on to the life energies of the men. They paused for a moment, as they both began to hear a slight ringing in their ears and a headache beginning to ensue. Just like Jubilee, a feeling of nausea overtook them. Their weapons dropped and one man began grabbing at his collar and fanning himself.

"Argh..." groaned the men as they sunk to the floor, holding their heads in pain. Drops of blood landed on the tile floor, as blood began flowing from their mouths and ear. Then suddenly…their movement stopped, their groans of agony silenced and Mary felt a sudden boost of energy.

For a second Mary was glued to the spot. The men were dead? She'd…killed them? The noise of glass breaking and gunfire from the kitchen brought Mary back to the current situation. Walking past the downed soldiers, she stooped over and grabbed one of their stun guns, then without haste, bolted around the corner and back upstairs.

She sensed more were near. An invasion, she guessed, had begun!

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A/N: That was kind of a long chapter. The next will be too, I think. This is one of my favourite scenes of X2. The Invasion. I can't wait. Um...do you guys think Mary is weird?