Disclaimer: X-men and all trademarked characters, places, etc within the Marvel Universe are property and copyright Marvel Enterprises Inc. And any use of the characters and other trademarked and pre-established storylines are not a challenge to the original owners and are used without permission. Don't sue me, I have no money. ;p

Author's Notes: Suggested song for this chapter is: Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You". I had it stuck in my head as I wrote part of this.. (strangely enough while watching Anime) Although, I was listening to Evanescence when I wrote the bulk of this too. o.0;

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Displacement Ch. 3: Choices- by Taima

'No one is going to come get you. Haven't you figured that out yet?' Sakura was reaching into Marie's jumbled mind, trying to find out the reason why she was here and not at the school but she found herself getting lost in the maze that was Marie's mind. She frowned as she drew up a pile of mixed emotions and false perceptions within this girl's mind- it was like it had been encrypted and protected with firewalls... it'd take more time than she had to hack into this mind. She could see the girl questioning now whether or not she was going to retrieved, and she knew that Cerebro would let them know the whereabouts of this little flower.

"NO... no.. they're going to come get me?" Marie rubbed her temples, it felt like someone was pressing hard against her brain. The question gnawed at her, would anyone want to come get her after what she did to that boy? "But.."

'But what? Why would they want to come get you?' Sakura was grasping at straws again, she really had nothing to go on from her feeble attempt to read Marie's mind so she would have to resort to using more traditional methods. Hell, she might even have to make physical contact with this one.

"I... don't know... I hurt another student... but that wasn't my fault. He demanded that I show him my powers and.. he grabbed me.. He asked for it. It wasn't my fault..." Marie stammered as she looked down, why did it hurt so much to think that no one would want her back? "They aren't going to come get me, are they?"

'They just don't understand you. But I do, he provoked you- it is not your fault. Why don't you come with me?' That was the opening Sakura was waiting for, now she knew what happened and now all she had to do was move in for the proverbial kill.

Marie wanted to cry, her heart hurt and she didn't understand why. She had been alone for so long, so why did it bother her now? She wanted someone, anyone to come from the School and take her home- but they probably hated her now. They won't come to get her now, perhaps the voice was right, they didn't understand her and would never will. Maybe it would be better if she went with this mysterious woman.

Sakura smiled, she may not have been able to read the girl's mind but she could read her emotions. The girl was doubting now and with a little nudge, she'd win without a fight. 'It's okay, dearest. I'm here for you... and all you have to do is say that you'll come with me. You'll be safe and you'll be in a place where you will be understood, where you are wanted.'

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"We've located Marie, she is at Niagra Falls and she's not alone." Jean announced to the group of instructors who had been waiting for a location to retrieve Marie from.

Taima stood with Logan, Kurt and Ororo in the main hallway of the School. She noticed that Jean didn't look at her when she mentioned the fact that Marie wasn't alone. "Jeannie, who's with Marie?" Taima felt a chill run down her spine, she already knew she wasn't going to like what Jean had to say.

"It's Sakura, Tams. As far as we can tell, it's just Sakura there but if she's back in town there's a good chance that the others are with her on a 'field trip'." Jean frowned, the memory of what transpired between the mother and daughter 5 years ago was still a painful one. Neither had walked away without assistance and now Sakura was back...

Taima felt a strong hand against her shoulder, she knew who's hand it was without looking, she knew his warmth too well. "I'm going then. Saku is most likely here to my make my life difficult and she probably has made contact with Marie.. We'd better hurry. Saku has a tendency to hurt people.." Logan shook his head, pulling his hand away from Taima's shoulder as he moved towards the door.

"Come on Tammy, let's go get the kid. We don't got long." Logan looked back for a moment and locked eyes with Taima... Her eyes were so sad these days, but there was nothing he could do to help soothe the pain that she felt- there were just too many open wounds.

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Sakura started to sense the change in the air pressure, they WERE coming and they were coming fast. Now she had no time for this, she had to act and act now.

Marie sniffled, she still hadn't given the voice an answer yet. She just didn't know what to do. "Let me see you for who you are."

Sakura shrugged to herself, she was almost out of time. Why not? She figured that she'd have to let her know as it was... She jumped up onto the top of the guiderail, it was slippery and now people were shouting.

"Miss, please get down! It's dangerous there! You could fall!!"

Sakura smirked, as she jumped down over the guiderail and down towards the rushing water of the Falls. She could just barely hear the shouting over the roar of the falls as her wings extended out of her back, a shimmering pair of blue faerie wings and she skimmed the surface of the water. She knew that the people couldn't see her now, the water's surface was reflected off of her wings and she was now the 'invisible' to them. 'You'll see me soon.' She loved flying but she didn't have time to enjoy this, she had to go and grab the girl and cause a commotion to distract the people coming to retrieve her...

Marie shivered for a moment as she looked up towards the sky.. it had suddenly become overcast.. it looked like it was going to storm. She saw flashing lights on the other side of the Falls but she didn't understand why. The voice had quieted now, perhaps she had just imagined it all?

"Hello there. Are you looking for someone?" The voice was louder now, Marie looked back down to the space in front of her and there was an eighteen year old Asian woman with piercing blue eyes and short red-brown hair grinning at her. The woman was wearing a short blue dress over black tights and black calf boots.. and she had a large pair of iradescent blue faerie wings coming out of her back. This woman didn't seem real to Marie.

"Who.. who are you?" Marie inchd back away from the woman and found her back pressed against the bark of the tree she had been leaning against.

The woman still grinned. "I'm the one who's going to take you to where you will be understood. Don't be scared, I'm like you." Sakura knew her mother and father would be here within seconds. Now she would have to face them. "Come on, we can go somewhere more private to talk and away from this storm. You don't want to get struck by lightning do you?" There was an urgency in Sakura's voice that Marie noticed.

"NO. Stay away from me!" Marie stood up and slowly moved away from the tree, still facing Sakura.

Sakura frowned, the girl was going to be difficult now. "Come on, I won't hurt you, just come with me and everything will be okay." Sakura moved to grab Marie's arm, but the girl moved away again.

"STAY AWAY!!!" Marie shrieked and Sakura was throw back through the guardrail and into the Falls by an invisible force. She had heard a loud crack but the woman had disappeared and Marie was hyperventalting now.

Sakura winced when her wings had made contact with the metal guardrail, it really hurt and her wings had been shredded for a moment before they had repaired themselves. But she shook her head and stood on the mist of the Falls for a moment to recollect herself, she hadn't expected that. And now, she had to play rough or else she'd be walking away with more than just a headache. "Okay girly, I'll play this your way."

"I need to run..." Marie closed her eyes for a moment and tried to catch her breathe. And then she found herself frozen in place, her body felt funny.

"You know, that really hurt. Luckily, I am a forgiving soul and I'll let that slide just this once." Sakura hopped down onto the ground in front of Marie from a cloud of mist. Marie's eyes widened in amazement. "How am I able to do this? That's simple my dear, you see... the human body is mostly made up of water and I can control and manipulate water. Cool right? But there's no time for fun and games, it seems that they are here to get you after all and that's no fun for me." Sakura ran her hand through her hair as she saw the team steadily approaching. She waved her hand towards the water of the Falls and a loud boom resounded like an explosion had been set off as a pillar of water rised up out of the Falls.

"SAKURA! LET MARIE GO!" Taima yelled as she ran towards her daughter, the vine tattoo appearing on her face as she went. Logan ran a short distance behind her and Kurt had yet to show himself- he was waiting for Marie to be clear of Sakura's control before pulling her away.

Sakura grinned again, physically grabbing Marie and pulling her towards the Falls with her as vines appeared up out of the ground around her feet. "I know this song and dance. Shouldn't you worry about all of those civilians on the other side of the Falls and what would happen to them if they were.. ah.. washed away?" She pulled back and up away from the vines as they reached up to pull her back to Earth, if they managed to get a hold of her this game would be over... she had to place herself over the water to avoid the reach of the vines.. It would take her mom some time to get the vines to reach that far. The pillar of water remained stationary for now, Sakura hadn't willed it to move yet. "So what will it be? Washed away and this student dead or everybody alive?"

To be continued..