A/N: hey everyone!!! okay, here's the thing- this is my first ever X-men fic, but I love the movies so much that I'm giving it a try. Please help me if I mix up characters. Any suggestions would be great! I have a vague storyline, but I'd be perfectly happy to add in what the 'people' want!

Please review, and let me know if this is ok, all right? I'm doing some serious fretting right about now, so hurry up and press the little purple button!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Beaver Dam, NY.

~I used to have a family. I used to be normal. Hell, I used to be a cheerleader.~ A brunette teenager looking way too tired for being so young announces to the cook that she's taking a fifteen minute break. He replies with a gruff, "Well, hurry the hell up!" She sighs, walking outside the diner into the little woods behind it, sitting on a medium-sized, well-weathered rock.

She sits there, watching the sun set and rocking back and forth softly, her apron getting dirty but she doesn't care. She's lost in the memories of the past, the voices of those better left forgotten.

~You're fat.(one of the popular girls)~ she stands up shakily, but then falls to her knees, grabbing at weeds and rocks with a death grip. ~You're not normal...Get out of my house, mutant scum!(her mother)~ she throws up over and over, feeling dirtier by the second as the onslaught of memories fails to stop. ~You take my mutant baby and get the hell out of here, trash! (Her mother)~

After getting rid of everything that had been in her stomach, she takes out a pocketknife, watching the light of the moon dance off of it. She lifts up her shirt sleeve, readying herself for the pain. She slices into her forearm, leaning her head against her arm, letting the blood drip slowly onto the dirt and gravel beneath it, already bloodstained from countless other times that the girl has cut herself.

~I know it's wrong and stupid, but I need to feel. That's why I do it. The need to not feel numb overwhelms me. I guess it's the same with the whole eating thing, too. Whatever. I can do whatever the hell I want. I don't have anybody to worry about me, anyway.~ She stares at the stars, looking for a shooting one.

~Star light,

Star bright,

First star I see tonight,

I wish I may,

I wish I might,

Have the wish

I wish tonight...

I wish I wasn't Tru Lynne Montgomery.~

The blood drips to the ground, a silent penance for being different. An offering to whoever decides who is a mutant or not, that they had made a mistake, and to take all of it- the power, the hurt, the pain- away.

~Take me away~

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~X-Men, meet me at the Jet. New mutant, and she's hurting.~ Professor Xavier's voice booms softly in each of the X-men's heads, and they drop whatever they're doing to quickly get changed into their leather gear.

Within five minutes, Storm, Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Bobby, Rogue, Jubilee, and Remy are all in front of the X-Jet, donning their gear. Professor Xavier is at the entrnce of the jet, waiting quietly for them.

"We have found a new mutant, ladies and gentlemen. She's in trouble, and we need to get her out of wherever she is. It is the duty of the X-men." he announces, and they all nod.

"Please, save me the drama, Chuck." Logan says gruffly, that irrepressible smirk plastered all over his face as he struts onto the jet.

"Well, right then. On to save the world, shall we?" Prof. X smiles softly as the rest of the crew clambers aboard.

Giggles resound from Rogue and Jubilee as Bobby starts a pillow fight with some of the pillows on board. Logan groans, rolling his eyes in his typical 'this sucks big time' stature. "Giggles take away from the menacingness of it all."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Beaver Dam, NY, Tru's PoV

Today is definitely not my day. I've already had two ass-grabbers, three chest-starers, I've dropped the menu twice, and I couldn't get away after lunch to bulimia it up. Great...well, tomorrow I guess I just won't eat.

Sigh...could this day get any worse? This sucks ass. I turn the tv to the news station, needing to see what's new in the Mutant World. I need to stay up on everything, and keep me and Jessie's powers under control. Damn, I need to leave- babysitter's there for about fifteen more minutes and I need to walk back.

"Sonny, I have to leave now. Mary-Jane's babysitter has to leave." I tell our chef. He's so much nicer than the other one we have. His name's Patrick, and he isn't the nicest guy- or the most hygienic, for that matter.

I tell Sonny goodbye and head over to the Oakleaf Motel, our home for the past four months. It's filthy and smutty, but it's cheap and I know the owner, so he lets me go off when the tips aren't so good.

I enter the hotel, and immediately the smell of it hits me. The Oakleaf Motel definitely has its own smell, that's for sure. It's kind of a mix between the burning air smell coming from behind the vending machine, the smell of too-much aftershave used by Harry, the guy who owns the place, and something I can't quite put my finger on...me and Sally, my neighbor, have this bet on what it is. So far her bet's on old cab driver smell, and mine's on the perfume that all the prostitutes share. I'm so gonna win.

I run as fast as I can to Sally's room, wanting to get her and play with her after a long day of working. God, I wish I just once had the chance to be a normal teenager. It's just not fair. I mean, it's one thing to kick your 14 year old daughter out on the street; it's an entirely different story to shun your 1 year old baby girl.

I knock on Sally's door, waiting for a response impatiently. I raise my hand to knock just as the door swings open, revealing a very sleepy Mary-Jane and a very happy-looking Sally. "Hey, girl, thanks for watching her." I tell Sally, truly grateful that she's able to watch Mary-Jane.

"No problem, hun, you know you can always call if you need to." she tells me, and I fish some bills out of my pocket. She shakes her head vigorously, "No, honey. You keep that money and buy Mary-Jane some toys."

"Thanks again!" I yell as she shuts the door. I turn to Mary-Jane, who's staring up at me with those huge violet eyes of hers. "So, what do you want to do now, honey?" I ask her, and am immediately answered with shouts of "Little Mermaid! Little Mermaid!!" Of course. It's not like she ever watches anything else. I don't mind, though. She keeps me grounded, stops me from getting too unattached.

She jumps out of my arms and clambers onto the bed with all the grace of her two years-that is to say, not much. She looks at me intently, those beautiful eyes of hers boring a whole straight into me. "What is it, honey?" I ask her, knowing that another surge of power's hitting her- I can always tell when she has a 'feeling.' You see, she's an empath, she can feel what other people are feeling.

"They're coming, Tru." she says, her voice shaking a little. "Don't worry though, o-sister-of-mine, they're good ones. I can feel 'em." she says, scrunching her nose up like she's just remembering something. "Can I have a cookie?" she asks, waving away the seriousness of a two-year old with powers and going straight to the food I brought from work.

I grab two cookies from the bag of food I always get from work- Sonny lets me sneak it because he knows how short on cash I am. I hand her one, and she munches away happily. I hear a light buzzing sound, but brush it off. Moments later, somebody knocks at the door.

Mary-Jane, being the great sharer that she is, takes the bag of cookies and scampers beneath the bed, hoarding it for herself. Well, no more cookies for me. I head to the door, feeling a bit uneasy as I swing it open without even looking at the peephole- what? MJ did say that they were good.

"Um....hi." a man with a ducktail haircut mumbles. I look in disbelief at the nine people in front of me. They're all wearing black leather with X's in various places, except for one man, who I assume to be their leader.

"Um, hi." I say, standing in awe. Mary-Jane runs between my legs, looking up at me expectantly.

"I told you they were good, didn't I?" she says proudly, even though I have no proof of that yet. She turns to our visitors, holding out her precious bag of cookies. "You want some? They're really good, and we're watching The Little Mermaid, and..." she runs back to the bed and starts jumping up and down happily, singing happily to her little self as I motion my amused visitors in.

"I'm Tru, and that's Mary-Jane." I introduce, and they all smile. The man in the wheelchair, chocolate chip cookie now in hand, smiles softly at me.

"I'm Professor Xavier, and I am in charge of Xavier's school for Gifted Youngsters." he says, and I give him a 'so what' look, not even meaning to. "The people who go there- staff, children, everyone- we're all mutants. And we were wondering if you'd like to come to the school." he says, and I ponder it for a moment, then remember that I was kicked out of my upper-middle-class lifestyle.

"I'm sorry, Professor. I would like to go, I really would. And I'm sure MJ would, too...but I don't have any way to pay for it." I tell him honestly, and he laughs.

"It doesn't matter. We take in anyone who wants to come. You are welcome." he says, and everyone around him smiles.

I scoop Mary-Jane up from her perch on a chair. "So, Mary-Jane, you up for it?" I ask her.

"Yupyups!!" she yells, grinning from ear to ear. "Wait a minute..." she says, looking serious for a minute. All of the X-Men, as they call themselves, tense up for a minute under the scrutiny of a two-year-old. "Do they have cookies there?" she asks, and I roll my eyes.

"You're gonna turn into a cookie, girl." I tell her.

"You'd like to know that my Rogue," the boy named Bobby put his arm around a girl with white streaks in her hair, "makes the best chocolate chip cookies around." he says proudly.

"Save me the mush." Wolverine says, and I grin, already feeling at home with these people.

"So, we're going?" I ask Professor Xavier, and he smiles.

"You're coming." all of the X-Men say, with such a finality that I can't argue.

Mary-Jane, however, is oblivious to all of this, drawn to the television by a red-haired mermaid singing songs about how much better it must be on land. She dances happily, twirling around the room while I pack until she hits Wolverine

"Woah, watch where you're going, darling." he advises her, lifting her onto his shoulders.

"I saw you, I just wanted to be tall." she announces imperiously. That's my girl.

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A/N: so, what'd ya think? Tell me, please!!!!!!!!! click the little purple button!!