© Autumn Raine
A/N: I don't own X-Men. Geez, if I did...would I really need to post on FF.net? o.O; Nu! And I don't get paid for doing this at all...Nope Nope! But I do it because..I like it! :D! I like yew! Sorry..Too hyper.
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"Like hell I want to be here." Veronica grummbled, tossing her bookbag on her raggity bed. Slate gray pools darted to her three other roomates. She flashed them a sarcastic smile, then flopped on her bed as well.
She'd been here for 15 years, or so she'd known. Abandoned at the age of two, and left at this...dump for mutant children. It was a common thing that happened. Parents refuseing to know that their infant child could perhaps, be "out-of-the-norm" and be a mutant. This was the so called, "Safe Haven" for those poor mutant children.
"V, why don't you just stop being like, so.. depressing all the time?" Her roommate jeered, tossing a Seventeen Magazine to the girl's bed.
Veronica, or V as she was called, rummbled a low growl; blades extending from between her knuckles on her hand. With a quick thrust, she sent them into the thin paper of the magazine. Slipping off her bed, black bloots clunked over to her roommate. "I don't like your prissy and dolly 'zines, Lydia. Take 'em back to France or wherever you got 'em from."
"Geez, V. Temper Temper." Lydia slipped the paper off her blades and pouted. "Now look what you've done to Jennifer Love's beautiful face."
Boots clunked as she went back to her bed, slipping her bag over her shoulder. "Jennifer Love..Ha..I just helped hide her ugly face. She shouldn't be on the cover anyway."
"And what, you should?" Lydia sneered, and gave a bit of a giggle.
"Ah, shut-up Lydia." Veronica walked out of the room, slamming the wooden door behind her. Boots scuffed down the wooden hallway; kicking random toys the little kids had left behind. Three blades extended from her clenched fist; digging their little way through the soft fabric of a stuffed animal. Pieces of cotton clung to the tips of the blades as she brought the animal into her view; a small, orange and black striped tiger. She growled, tossing the animal off her blades; "...I hate tigers."
She went downstairs, retracting the blades back into her fist. Her other hand grabbed hold of a bottle of water on a near table. She flicked up the top, and took a sip. Hands trailed over the mail on the side from where she found the water. Fingertips, with nails painted in black, trailed over the envelopes..until..A letter for her?
It was a pale, off-white coloured envelope; a small, golden seal in the corner of the re-turn address and her name was written perfectly on the cover.
"Wow. This is some fancy 'nvolope." She let her bag slide off her shoulder once she put down the water bottle. She ripped open the back carefully with a blade from her hand. Retracting it back, she pulled out the two sheets of paper inside. Finger tips openned it, reading the sheet that layed ontop.
Dear Veronica,
Hello Ms. Vanier. I have word that you are excelling in the area of English and Sports. I'm quite interested if you'd join my Academy. We also, as a matter of fact, are a school for mutants. Not to scare you off, but please; Give it some thought. I have enclosed a map to the Academy. Hope to see you soon.
Professor Xavier
C/O the Xavier Institute for the Gifted.
...Veronica snickered, as she looked to the other sheet; the map. A mutant school. Wow, that's somethin' ya don't hear 'veryday. It was a map of New York, a dark heavy line showing a path from Buffalo to the Institute. Not far. She could get there by bus...or cab....train..walking...something...
She folded it back up, and tucked it into her pocket. She grabbed her dark, leather jacket off a near chair and put it on. She then slung her bag over her shoulder, as well as patting her jacket's pocket for a wallet. Good, still there. Wait...I got no money.
She dropped her bag and darted back up the stairs. Hand pushed against the door, slamming it back against the wall. She raced to her bed, pulling out a small shoe box. Eyes then looked to a duffle bag near her tattered dresser. She placed the box on the bed, and grabbed the duffle bag. Going back, she dropped the bag on the bed, and openned the box. She took the hundred dollars in loose bills and stuffed it into her pocket. Then shoved the loose change into her other pocket. She flipped through the papers in the box, and pulled out a small, cut picture of her when she was little. A smile curled her lips..she was so cute in that little CowGirl Costume. Yet, that other brown cowboy hat in the corner of the picture..always...made her wonder...who that belonged to. She tossed that into her jacket's pocket, then shoved the box aside. Moving over to her dresser, she dumped the clothes on her bed. Continuing, she shoved random articles of clothing into the bag.
Zipping it closed, she slung it over her shoulder; taking one last look around her. "Good bye, hell." She mummbled, a smirk pulling at her lips. She then turned to the door, and walked out. Boots scuffed along the hallway and down the stairs towards her other school bag. She dropped the duffle bag to the ground, and went into the kitchen.
"Girls gotta eat.."..She mummbled, nose sniffing around. "Hmph.." She grabbed an apple off the counter, and skittered back over to her bag. Shoving the apple into her school bag, she then slumped it on her back; and held the duffle bag into her hands. Boots clunked out of the Home, and down the front wooden stairs. No needs to say good-bye, she didn't make any friends here anywhere. She'd rather be alone, like how she was found that winter......
****....Young Veronica, only two; was left on the snow covered ground. Alone, cold, and shivering with fear she huddled on the ground. A tear rolled down her cheek, she couldn't remember anything....except that man..who had metal extending from his hands. He looked too big, too scary. He roared as he slashed through the soft wood of the trees.
Veronica blinked back those images, pulling over the small blanket over her legs. Her past nothing more than faded a away into nothing, only a small tattered picture in her pocket. The man had let her free as he let the large man free not too long ago. He didn't seem too happy.
The large man stood over her, picking up up by her shirt. He grit his teeth, "Why are you here little girl?"
Tears rolled down her little cheeks, strands of violet tinted black dangling over her slate-gray pools. "I came wit' yew! I was 'dare too!" She cried. "Pwease no hurt! Pwease!"
Nostrils flared as he set the little girl back on the ground; a clenched fist at his side. Three blades came from his knuckles, his lids and brows narrowed. "I won't hurt ya, little tike."
She sniffled, rubbing her dirty hand over her button nose. She looked up to him, then to the blades. Lashes upon lids blinked...
He retracted them, and rubbed his hand. "..Don't stare, tike."
She nodded, and with that he picked her up with his large hand and brough her to his chest. He held her close as his large booted feet walked along the snow covered highway. Little lips parted widely as she yawned, then her little head fell against his shoulder; lids closing over her eyes. She drifted to sleep...the steady pace of his walking rocking the little tike to sleep......
She awoke, laying on the floor of a large house. Blinking eyes wearily openned to see the face of a woman. "..Wha..Wha happened to mister?" She stumbled up to her feet.
"..He left you here, Veronica. He said you'd fit in here. I hope you like it. You can go by the fire and keep warm..." The woman pointed over to a well kept fire place in the den, other children playing about the large house.
Yet..they weren't normal children. Some of the bigger kids, they were...different.... One, she noticed, could ignite small balls of fire in his hands. She blinked, and looked to the fireplace. What was this place? How did she ever fit in here?
Little feet pattered over to the fireplace, her small hands extending out to the warmth of the fire. No shield kept her away from the embers, and so...a scolding ember jumped at the girl's hand from the crackling wood. She screamed with pain as it hit her soft flesh, and..on instinct...blades shot out from between her knuckles. Tears streamed down her cheeks as the woman rushed over to her....Little Veronica...Little Tike...She fit in....She was a freak.....******
..She shook her head as she sat down in a seat on the bus next to the window. Strands of black fell over her eyes as she placed her bags in the empty seat next to her. Unzipping her coat a bit, she pulled out the piece of paper. Slate-grey eyes traced along the heavy black route.
Here I come, Xavier Institiute...Hope ya ready for me...
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Mwuah ha ha! How'd you like so far? :D Hope ya did. I was bored and I'm moving to a new house! And this is fun and giving me an excuse for not packing and carrying heavy things! xD heh.
