Beginning 9

AN: I'm trying to fit what is potentially a whole story into a chapter here. It's done in a series of short snippets. I'm not sure how it will come out, but this is a fic for experimentation. Forgive me any abbreviation in the story as a whole.

SPOILER WARNING: BLOODY HUGE Ex marks the spot spoilers. If you haven't seen it then there might be some confusion, but I've tried to put in enough information to make it understandable.

Two years it had taken him. Two years to take that twisted and troubled feral soul and turn it back into something resembling a human teenaged girl. And now she was leaving, his plans for the great team of mutants falling through with her decision to return to the world. At eighteen there was nothing he could do to stop her, her life was her own. He smiled as he watched that young woman walk sedately across the room (though it was obvious to him that there was a tense energy in that walk that could never be completely quashed). She smiled and placed her bag down beside her feet. Grabbing hold of his collar she pulled him down so that he was at the right to kiss both of his cheeks.

"I'll see you around OK?" She laughed as he blushed.

"You'll check in? And keep in touch? And you have my number if you need anything, or if anything goes wrong"

"Adam." Shalimar smiled. "I'm going to be OK."

Zack Lockheart.

Something had drawn her to him, and him to her.

And now they were in a right mess.

It had been her actions that had drawn his attention to the young thief on the streets he called his home. He had watched her curiously at first, wandering through the crowds almost aimlessly, a hood concealing her face and baggy oversized clothes covering her form. He could tell it was a girl only from the way she walked and the way she held herself. He had to take a second look as a man she had brushed past mere seconds before span on his heel realising that he was missing his wallet.

He caught hold of her as she walked past him for the third time and had only a moment to look at her closely before he found himself taking a closer look at the ground beneath him. He coughed as he tried to draw oxygen back into his lungs, gasping 'wait' as she ran off into an alley. He smirked as he stood and brushed himself off. He still knew these streets better than anyone, the alleyway she'd gone down was a dead end. He followed her.

But she wasn't there.

It was a dead end, he could see it with his own eyes. And she had definitely run down this way. But she wasn't anywhere to be seen. There were no doors, no emergency exits, no fire ladders. She had just disappeared.

He jumped as there was the softest of thuds beside him. Looking down he found his wallet there, completely emptied of cash. He hadn't even noticed it was missing. He looked up and there was the quickest flash of gold on the rooftop and it was gone.

It was two weeks later when she saw him again, leaving a scene in quite a hurry. She relieved him of a bag of money as he checked over his shoulder for followers. He grabbed hold of her wrist as she went to run and pulled her into another alley. She growled softly and he held out one hand.

"Ah." He warned. "I learned my lesson last time OK? I'm not going to fight with you."

"Let go." It was more a growl than words, but he got the gist and released her arm. He noticed that the bag she had taken from him had disappeared and he wondered if she had dropped it or concealed it in her clothes.

"Where'd the bag go?"

"Why should I tell you?" She demanded.

"So you still have it, huh? That's good. Is it in your jacket?" She looked at him curiously, before performing a slight-of-hand that made the bag appear in her hands and disappear again without any disturbance to her clothes. "You're good, how would you like to earn some decent money?"

He faced her apartment, amazed. He had struck gold with this girl.
"My fairy godfather." She explained, laughing.

"And does your fairy godfather know that you're a pickpocket?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

"I don't have to be." She replied, pouting. "I have a job. I just do it for practice." If possible his eyebrow went higher, almost disappearing into his hairline.

"Practice!?"

They spent two months working together before he made a move on her. It was after an adrenaline-filled escape from the authorities and she saw the look in his eyes as they walked through the door of her flat. There was something feral in his eyes that scared her, though only for a moment before it was hidden behind the glaze of charm that she had come to expect from him. She knew of his mutant power as he knew of hers, experience garnered from watching each other work. He laughed sometimes at the feral anger he saw in her eyes or the un-harnessed joyful energy that was there when they succeeded in their newest scheme. But that feral being didn't belong in his eyes and it frightened her.

"'A week,' he says, 'You'll be fine' he says. Didn't think to perhaps mention the shit in my freezer did he? Didn't tell me to expect the police. Didn't tell me about the job gone wrong. No good, double dealing, bastard asshole." She muttered to herself, kicking at the wall as the phone rang on, unanswered. The number he had given her to contact him in an emergency as useless as the man himself. A guard appeared beside her.

"Your time's up." He said gruffly, leering at her as he took the handset from her and placed it back on the phone screwed onto the wall.

"He hasn't answered. Can I make another call?" The guard laughed at her.

"Not my problem missy. Now you just come with me."

Shalimar looked up groggily at the guard who stood at her door. Having only just dropped off to sleep with the noise of hundred of people around her and an uncomfortable mattress beneath her she grumbled at the disturbance and rolled over. The last week had been hell for her, nearly no sleep in the noise of this place and terrible food and worse company. What made it nearly unbearable was the knowledge that the walls around her could be easily jumped. She only remained with the instinctual knowledge that being discovered as a mutant could only be worse for her than what she was living with at the moment.

The guard, persistent, rattled on the bars of her cell making her flinch as the noise resonated in her ears. She sat up to face him.

"WHAT?"

"You've been cleared. You're out of here."

"Cleared?"

"There was witnesses that say it was a guy who pulled off the job. You, darlin', are not a guy. Now get the hell out of my cell before I shut you back in there for the hell of it." Shalimar didn't hesitate to follow his instruction, collecting her possessions - not complaining about the lightening of her purse - and leaving as quickly as possible.

"Shalimar. You have no idea how glad I am to hear your voice." She laughed.

"Probably about as glad as I am to hear yours Adam." She flopped into her sofa with the phone tucked into her shoulder, marvelling in the softness and struggling to stop herself from falling asleep where she sat, in the peace and quiet of her own home.

"Where have you been? The landlord said he hadn't seen you for a week and the police had been around and you didn't check in. I was"

"Adam." She halted his stream of worried words. "It's a long story. And I think I've changed my mind. Can I come back?" Adam sighed quietly.

"I'm so glad. Where can I pick you up?"

"I need to pick someone up before we go back to Sanctuary." Adam explained as he turned the car. "A young man that might be moving into Sanctuary with us." There was a moment's insecurity in her eyes that Adam didn't fail to miss. "I'm sure you'll get along. He's been having some problems controlling his powers, I might need your help to train him." The thought of having a young person to train as she had been trained appealed to her so she consented. Walking behind Adam as he approached the cluster of people, she watched as a young teen, gangly in the height without build that the teen years bring, was hugged tightly by both of his parents and then pushed away almost angrily to walk alone towards Adam. Meeting him half way as if the parents were reluctant to come in contact with Adam. Feeling she should be doing something Shalimar picked up one of the bags from the pile as Adam shook the hand of the boy and led him back towards the car.

They drove in silence that filled the space like invisible walls. Shalimar sat with the boy in the back seat and watched the scenery flash by out of the window. An almost inaudible sigh pulled her attention back to the boy.

"So." She said, the word sounding odd as it broke through the barriers of the silence. "What's your name?" She asked, feigning ignorance though Adam had told her his name only hours ago.

"Jesse." The response was almost a whisper, his eyes wide as if surprised at the attention. Shalimar flinched internally. This kid was used to not being seen. She swore to herself that she would make him visible.

"Nice to meet you."