"Hey there, you're waking up I see

"Hey there, you're waking up I see?"

My eyes fluttered open, I was sitting in a weird setting, but that was really the least of my worries, "Wh-where, am I? What happened?" I stopped, and remembered the last thing I saw, my heart in Storm's hands, "How the hell did I survive?" I slowly sat up.

"Well, I must say. This is something of a miracle Sarah. The X-Men tried to destroy you. Storm, um," he hesitated, "to put it simply…she tore your heart out right…right out of your body…"

I stared at him, in question, "How did I live through that? Are you saying I don't have a heart right now?"

Dark Beast laughed, "No, no, no, of course not. I ran some X-rays on you, and you do have a heart. Meaning that, as unbelievable as this is, before this battle, you had two hearts."

Ok, I defiantly wasn't expecting that, "Two hearts, huh. Looks like I really am unbeatable." I laughed, but soon stopped because of the pain that it caused.

"More like you were extremely lucky. I put some ointment on your burns, which are pretty much gone now. And I sewed up that nasty hole in your chest. You're pretty much good as new, but you'll probably be sore for a while."

I got up off the couch, and looked around, "And where are we by the way?"

"A friends home. Its not much better than ours, but the X-Men trashed our place, so he offered us his."

I nodded. The place was a little more furnished than the hideout, not necessarily nice furniture, just more. There was a working TV, and the room was full of what must have been stolen merchandise, "Does this place have any food?"

Darky shook his head, "Afraid not, we'll have to get our food from the streets. Want me to get you something?"

I headed for the door, "No I'll get it myself."

"I'll join you then"

We made our way down the stairs in the beaten down apartment building. The floorboards squeaked each time you put your foot down, the wallpaper was peeling, and there was a foul stench that lingered in the air. We stepped out into a dark ally.

"There's a food stand down there with some nachos and pretzels, sound ok?" Dark Beast pointed to a small hut just down the ally, it didn't seem busy at all, so no attention would be drawn.

"Whatever, I just want something to eat."

The small hut was run by a middle-aged man, that sounded like he was from Iraq or some country like that, "May I help you?"

"No I'll help myself thanks." Darky violently pushed the man out of the way.

When I watched the man fall, a weird, strange feeling pierced my soul, like I felt sorry for him.

The man stood up and objected to Dark Beast's illegal actions, "You cannot do that mister! I will call the police on you. Sir! You cant…"

Darky spun around, "You are in no place to be telling me what to do sir," Dark Beast walked over to the unsuspecting, innocent man and kneed him in the stomach, "as a matter of fact, you're really not in any place to be doing anything at all." He laughed as the man rolled on the ground in anguish, "What's wrong Sarah, not hungry?"

I was still staring at the man in pity. Dark had just hurt him, for no apparent reason. Whoa, whoa, wait. I brought my thoughts to a halt; no, this isn't you Sarah. That fight musta' messed with your head, "Lemme at some of that food." I grabbed a pretzel and a cup of nacho cheese, and caught a glimpse of the man again. He stared at me, with such hate, and disgust, I had to look away.

I realized Dark Beast had taken off, and followed, my mind still thinking about what I had just felt.

"So tell me, are you feeling up to getting our paws on that new load of jewels the Museum just got in? They would bring in some good money for my project." Dark Beast asked me over his shoulder, walking slightly in front of me.

I snapped out of my daze, "Um, yeah, whatever."

He walked into the old apartment building, walking up the noisy stairs and into the small putrid room, "There are some things I want to run over with you, before tonight that is." He sat down on what looked like a new, which probably meant stolen, recliner, "Just the basic is what I'm planning on. I'll get us in, disarm the alarms, you get rid of the guards, we'll get the jewelry and get out, nothing new."

I nodded, "Gotcha." But in my head, I kind of feared that night. The way I reacted to the man up above, him getting abused, would I be able to handle killing those guards. Ah! I stopped myself again. Why was I thinking like this?! Of course I could kill them, no problem! At least I hoped it would be no problem.

***

"Alright, the alarms are deactivated, lets get in and out." Darky waved his hand, signaling for me to follow, "Wait…" he put his arm out to stop me from going anywhere, this time his voice was in a whisper.

I peered around the corner. A group of about 10 guards were standing walking around the new jewel exhibit.

Dark scratched his furry chin, "That's quite a few, but you can manage, cant you? Who am I fooling; you've handled more than twenty before. Now get out there and do your thing." He nudged me forward.

I closed my eyes. You can do it Sarah, no big deal. It'll be easy; the routine procedure for you. I stepped into the exhibit, creeping behind the many tables. I heard the shuffle of feet approaching me. Suddenly I stuck my foot out. Almost instinctively I jumped out, grasped a ridged bone from my back and snapped it off. I held the man's shoulders as the blade propelled into his chest, through his body, practically anchoring him to the ground.

"Hey! You! What are you doing?" The mob of security guards rushed toward me, their hands holding their precious guns.

A weird reaction happened. Subconsciously, my arms were whirling around my head, punching the guards, knocking them to the ground. Shards of bone were flying at them; thrusting into their shoulders and chests. And before I knew what had happened, bodies were lying all around me, lifeless bodies. What had I done? In my heart, I felt such a sense of remorse, and sympathy, and repentance for what I had done. I feel to the ground, how could I do this?

Flashbacks surged through my head; the memories of that night that the Morlocks had been massacred, the terror of seeing my family's dead, lifeless, pale bodies, the torture it all caused me.

I opened my eyes, and it was like reliving that night. The corpses surrounding me, "NO!" I screamed. The faces of the Morlocks appeared on the faces of the guards. All I could see was my dead family, "NO!!!" I stood up and ran as fast as I could out of the Museum.

Why was I feeling all these emotions? Damnit! What the hell was wrong with me!

I kept on running, until my legs burned and my muscles ached. I stopped in a small dark park and sat behind a tree. Like a child afraid, I drew my knees up to my chest. Why did I see the Morlock's faces on those men? Was I going crazy? Then I realized something, about the life I'd been living. I was…murdering innocent people, the same way my family's killers had done. I was a killer, a ruthless, cold-blooded killer.

I shook my head, "No, no I can't, I'm not like that." All of a sudden, the faces of all those I'd take the lives of flashed through my mind. They kept coming, there were so many of them. Tears began to descend down my cheeks. The brutal reality of my life made me want to die on the spot. I couldn't believe that I'd murdered so many. I wanted revenge for my family's death so bad, that I went to the point of killing innocent adults and children.

But why, I asked myself, why am I feeling all this now. My heart, the one Storm had ripped out, along with it, she tore the evil from the core of my being. She pulled out my ability to kill and not regret it. And now, I did feel remorse, and sorrow for what I had done. Oh God did I feel the sadness. I felt it throughout my body, like an intolerable pain that wouldn't cease.

I spent the rest of the night sobbing, and I ended up crying myself to sleep.