Anna groaned and opened her eyes. A harsh light dazzled her and she closed them tightly again. A dull pain shot through her throat and immediately she remembered what had happened. Sabertooth pressing the knife into her throat, and even up to the second before he started to drag it across her jugular, she thought he wouldn't do it.
The few seconds of pain she had experienced from her wound, before she passed out were nothing compared to the pain of betrayal from the man she thought she could trust.
She could vaguely recall her father trying to stem the bleeding with his bare hands, confused voices and screaming before the blackness overtook her. She thought she was dying.
She opened her eyes slightly and let her vision adjust. She realised that it wasn't the overhead lights after all. It was sunlight streaming in through the window. She opened her eyes fully and glanced around.
She recognised the Med Lab almost immediately. She realised that they must have bought her back to the mansion. Her father had got her back after all.
An IV was next to the bed with a bag containing a clear liquid hanging down. She followed the tube with her eyes until it came to a stop in the back of her hand. She was tempted to pull it out and try and escape, but something stopped her. She knew she had been hurt badly, and as much as she hated feeling penned in, moving could be a bad idea until she knew the extent of her injuries.
'Well, I'm not staying on my back.' She thought determinedly. She had to crane her already aching neck to see anything. She put her arms underneath her and pushed herself up on her elbows, biting her lip to keep from crying out as her aching wound screamed in protest.
She got half way up and collapsed against the pillows, breathing heavily. She hadn't been in this bad shape for a long time, but at least she could see now.
The first thing she saw made her breath catch in her battered throat.
Logan was slouched in a chair next to her bed, asleep. She expected him to wake up and either start fussing over her or reprimand her for trying to move. After a minute, she realised that he wasn't going to wake up and she relaxed slightly.
She studied him for a minute. He was still wearing his uniform and the stubble on his chin testified that he hadn't shaved in a week. She glanced at his stomach and felt a slight twinge of guilt as she saw the three small holes in the material of his outfit.
Remembering the attack made her recall why she had done it in the first place. She could feel tears building up in her eyes, and brushed them away angrily. She didn't cry, no matter how much it hurt.
'Victor told me the truth.' She thought, as if that was the end of it. But a slight doubt niggled her mind. If he had been honest, merely a pawn in her father's game to seduce her mother, then why had he attacked her?
Anna glanced at the sleeping man again. She knew in her heart that she had wanted to believe Sabertooth. She wanted to hate Logan, to hurt him for leaving her.
"Christ." She muttered, looking at the ceiling. She looked shocked at the sound of her own voice. It sounded rusty and slightly guttural. She panicked slightly, Anna would be the first to admit that she couldn't carry a tune to save her life, but she always thought that she had a nice voice. One that matched her mood perfectly, from a purr to a roar, but now?
"Now I sound like a chain smoking hag." She muttered, rubbing her hand over her eyes. What if it was permanent?
"You shouldn't be talking." Said a voice suddenly, making her yank her hand down from her face. She looked at her father with an entirely neutral face.
Logan had been drifting in and out of sleep for the past few hours, until it finally overtook him. He hadn't left Anna's side since that monster Sabertooth pushed her onto him at the cabin. His urge to go after the beast and kill him was, for once, over shadowed by the fact that his daughter was bleeding to death in his arms.
When she passed out he thought she had died. Xavier managed to break through his thoughts and told him that she was still alive, but she needed help NOW. The rest was pretty much a blur, carrying her to the Blackbird, Hank trying to keep her alive long enough for her power to heal her.
Finally when her windpipe had sealed itself, and she was no longer critical, Anna had been placed in the recovery ward. Logan pulled up a chair and hadn't moved for the six days she had remained in a coma like sleep.
Her voice had woken him, and now he found himself looking into the surprisingly calm face of his daughter. She seemed to be waiting for him to talk.
"Uh ... Hank says your vocal chords were severed. They're nearly healed, but it'll take time before they are what they were, so no shouting." He explained.
"And until then I sound like Joan Rivers?" She managed to groan. But she smiled at her joke.
Logan smiled back, 'This is it.' He thought, 'Finally, she's going to let me in.'
"An, whatever Sabertooth told you about me, you've gotta know it's a lie. He's a monster." Wolverine said, standing up and taking a step towards the bed.
"Duh! I figured that part out myself." She croaked, pointed to the bandage wrapped around her throat. She tried to keep the inevitable "father/daughter" talk at bay and put her head down to look at her hands.
"He hurt me to get to you." She said, her guard was temporarily down, and she couldn't do anything about it. This involved her mother, how she was bought into the world. She needed to know who was lying.
"And I'll never forgive myself for letting it happen." Replied Logan, sitting tensely on the edge of the bed.
Anna was suddenly claustrophobic. She tried to remain calm and said, "Can I get up? I'm aching from just lying here."
Her father nodded and helped her climb down from the bed. Once he was assured that she wouldn't collapse, he went in search of clothes and the Professor.
Anna was desperate for a cigarette and the image of smoke rolling out from her wound as she inhaled made her smile.
"Glad to see your sense of humour hasn't gone."
She turned to see Xavier sitting in his chair at the foot of the bed. She was tempted to get angry with him for invading her mind, but she was tired of it all. She just wanted a ciggie and a hot bath.
"I thought a person's thoughts were private." She said wearily.
Xavier smiled, "I just wondered what state of mind you were in."
Anna leaned against the bed, "You could have asked."
He tipped his head to one side slightly, making Anna think of a puppy, "Would you have answered honestly?"
She just shrugged, and stretched her arms. They were aching from the lack of movement for the past week. At that point Logan returned with her clothes. She dragged the curtains around the bed and dressed quickly.
Something was niggling her. She couldn't put her finger on it, like she had forgotten to do something. She pushed it out of her mind and pulled back the curtains.
"Is something bothering you, Anna?" Asked Xavier.
She knew he had either read her mind again or she was projecting her feelings. She made gave a half shrug and headed to the door.
"You can always ask for help. It doesn't make you weak" The older man called out, stopping her in her tracks. She turned slightly.
"Are you talking about him?" She asked, pointing at Logan, who looked slightly hurt at being referred to as 'him'.
"No. I just wanted you to know that if you need help I'm here." He replied.
Anna scowled and carried on walking out of the door. The two men watched her go. Logan looked at his friend, "What are you talking about?"
Xavier looked grave, "I don't really know at the minute. I don't think Anna does. When she was in the coma and I read her mind to assess her mental damage, I got a fleeting glimpse of a memory, so repressed she doesn't know it exists. I've felt it before, the last time I read her mind."
"Something worse than killing her own mother?" Asked Logan in disbelief.
"I don't know. To her, it is. But I'm afraid recent events and my probing may have started to shake it loose."
Logan's eyes travelled to the doorway, and he could hear his daughter talking to someone, "What if she remembers?"
"Then she'll need some serious support. It could destroy her." Xavier replied, praying he would be wrong.
Anna thought about taking the stairs, but she already felt breathless, so she punched the button for the lift and leaned on the wall, while she waited.
She tried to think of what Xavier was talking about. Ask for help? She had never needed help. She had no idea what he was talking about.
"Fucking psychics." She muttered. Would her head ever be private again?
The lift gave a slight ping as it opened and she turned to step in, halting when she saw Scott inside.
"I'll take the stairs." She said, thinking he'd start some sort of apology speech.
"No, wait." He called, stopping the doors, which were starting to close. "You'll strain yourself."
She stopped and glared at him, "Since when did you care?"
Scott didn't say anything; he knew he deserved it, "Since I saw what happened to you. Plus, Wolverine would kill me if he knew that I was the reason you hurt yourself trying to over do things."
Anna sneered, "Of course! You're scared of him, aren't you?" But she walked into the lift, and leaned against the opposite wall to Scott, "Going down?" She asked, not being able to resist.
Scott blushed, as the doors shut. A moment later, they reopened, and as she left, Anna paused in the doorway, "Thanks for the ride." She smiled.
Scott had been intending to get out at the same floor, but he let the doors shut and the lift carry him to the next floor. He was more relieved than he would admit that Anna had apparently forgotten about him yelling at her. Wolverine was nasty when provoked, but these days that took a while and he always let you know when you were pushing him. But Anna was completely unpredictable.
Anna was heading for the door, when something flickered in her mind. It was like a flash, a jolt of sudden memory. She was so shocked that she stopped dead.
She could feel a knife to her throat, but someone was standing in front of her instead of behind, like Sabertooth had been. She knew it was a real memory.
'When the fuck did that happen?' She thought, totally unaware that Kurt and Evan were watching her from the sofa. She shook her head and walked outside.
It was still bright, and she shielded her eyes from the sun. She badly wanted to smoke, but she didn't have any. She sat down on the step, trying to decide which was the lesser of two evils, asking Logan for money or going without a cigarette.
She knew the answer anyway, and stood up sighing. Her vocal chords were aching, like she had been screaming at a concert the night before.
'I'm such a chatter box.' She thought, trying to get herself into a good mood, to approach 'Daddy' for an allowance.
She found Wolverine easily enough. He had apparently been following her, abet at a distance. He saw that she had clocked him and dropped to his knees, pretending that he was looking for something in Ororo's bedding plants.
"I'm not stupid." She said, not noticing that this wasn't the best way to get money.
"Sorry?" He said, still playing innocent. He almost winced at the growling quality her voice had taken. Although it would eventually go, it didn't suit her. She was too small for such a rough voice. 'Then again,' Suggested his mind, 'It matches her personality!' He brushed aside the reality that his child was anything less than perfect (AN – Whose parent doesn't?) and stood up.
Anna let it pass, he had saved her walking all over the mansion anyway. She took a breath and shot out, "I'vegotnomoneyandIneedaciggie."
Logan looked taken aback. He frowned, still unsure about how to deal with her. He was getting used to the screaming fits, the abuse and storming out. But Anna didn't tend to start conversations with him off her own merit.
"Could you slow that down please?"
Anna nearly stamped her foot. The nicotine withdrawal wasn't helping her mood, she took a deep breath to calm her down and repeated, "I have no money and I need a cigarette."
"Oh! What do you want me to do about it?" He said, knowing where this was heading. He knew that he couldn't get out of it now. He should have just run away.
"Give me money!" Replied Anna, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"So you can damage your lungs?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Look, I'll buy chocolate with it. Happy now? General rule with kids, if you don't want to know the truth, then don't ask and think the best! Now can I have some money?" Anna knew she was rambling slightly now. The only other way to get money was to get her bank to wire the rest of it to her, and that would take days.
She knew she was going to have to sink to new depths when he crossed his arms and looked at her sternly.
"Please, Dad." She smiled.
Logan's expression changed in an instant. He smiled and his posture immediately softened.
Inside Anna was cursing herself. She knew it would work on him, but he seemed to have taken it as a sign that she really wanted to be his daughter. She had pushed it too far. Any thought of Logan getting hurt in all of this never entered her head, all she could think was that now he really would never leave her alone.
Wolverine pushing something at her disturbed her thoughts. She looked down and saw that he had handed her fifty dollars.
"Do you want me to drive you?" He asked, still smiling.
Anna blinked, and then shook her head, "Um, no thanks. Could I borrow your bike?" 'Don't ask, don't get.' She thought.
Logan laughed out loud, "How stupid do I look? No way." He said firmly.
Anna expected it, and just shrugged, "Fair enough. I'll take the van." She turned and went to look for Rogue, knowing she wouldn't be allowed out of the grounds on her own.
Logan watched her go. He couldn't believe what she had called him. Maybe she had finally come around and realised that he wasn't going to let her down. He'd try and talk to her again soon. Sabertooth had obviously told her something about her mother and he wanted to set the record straight.
Walking back to the mansion, something else was bothering him. What Charles had said. He wondered just what Anna had actually been through during her childhood.
'Whatever it is,' He thought, determinedly, 'I'll be there to help her.'
Rogue was laid on her bed, with her Walkman on. She didn't understand it when Kitty shot her dirty look, crossed the room and opened the door right next to the Goth's bed, despite the fact that Anna was knocking loudly.
Anna was the last person she expected to see and the look of surprise on the younger girl's face said it all.
"Anna." Kitty stammered, "You're awake." What she had said to the girl before Anna had run away came rushing back to her and she felt ashamed. In the heat of the moment Kitty had lost her temper, but she wasn't vindictive by nature and blamed herself for Anna's running away and resulting injuries.
Anna recalled their last encounter and wasn't shocked that Kitty was caught off guard. 'She probably thinks I'm going to hit her or something.' The raven-haired girl thought.
She simply forced a smile and said, "Is Rogue around?"
"Um, yeah, yeah. She's right here. I'll leave you to it." Kitty said, pushing past her, and racing down the hall.
Anna brushed it off and walked into the room. Rogue had now closed her eyes and was silently mouthing the words to whatever song she was playing.
She reached down and grabbed to earphones. Rogue jumped and tried to turn off the music, but Anna was too fast. She had already heard what she was listening to.
"Leann Rimes. You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl! Hardly your style, Rogue." She smiled, as if she had discovered some big secret.
Rogue blushed somewhat, "Ah..... It's Kitty's an' ah thought ah'd try it."
Anna raised an eyebrow, "Hey, far be it from me to criticise! I know the lyrics to some S Club 7 songs myself."
"Who?" Asked Rogue sitting up.
"Never mind! So, anyways, I'm bored and I have money. Wanna have some fun?" She asked, waving the money Logan had given her.
"Will ah regret this?" Smiled Rogue.
"Probably." Replied Anna, her eyes flashing with glee.
Rogue managed to talk Anna out of buying more beer, but she couldn't change Anna's mind about the cigarettes. Telling Rogue to buy something "fun" she dashed outside and hastily lit a ciggie.
Breathing out, she leaned against the wall. The lush calm of nicotine flowed over her. By the time she ground the butt out under her heel, Rogue had emerged with two brown bags and a pleased expression on her face.
"I guess there's nothing in there that's illegal, is there?" Asked Anna, taking one of the bags.
Rogue rolled her eyes, as they walked to the X-van, "It doesn't always hafta to be alcohol, ya know. Ya can get a buzz from somethin' else."
Anna shot her a mischievous look, "A vibrator?" She asked.
Rogue coloured up, and managed to reply, "NO! Ben an' Jerry's." She paused by the van, and started patting her jacket pockets looking for the keys.
Anna put her bag on the bonnet, "What's Ben and Jerry's?"
Rogue stopped and looked at her in shock, "Are ya kiddin' me? They make ice cream. Everyone knows Ben an' Jerry's. Ah can't believe ya've neva had it." She found the keys and unlocked the doors.
"Well, I was a little preoccupied with trying to stay alive, rather than sample gourmet ice creams." Replied Anna, with a little sarcasm. She grabbed the bag and put it on the seat. She was about to climb in when someone grabbed her shoulder and span her round, pinning her to the side of the van.
"Lance!" Yelled Rogue, abandoning her bag and racing round the van. He had Anna's arms pinned to her side, against the van and was inches away from her face.
Rogue cringed knowing that the British girl was more than a match for him, but Anna didn't do anything. Lance started yelling about how it was her fault that Kitty had dumped him and how she was the best thing that ever happened to him, but Anna didn't move.
"Anna?" Rogue cried, trying to break through to her. Then to her utter disbelief Anna started to cry, not hysterically, just tears flowing silently down her face.
Lance still hadn't noticed, he just continued to yell.
Anna couldn't even see Lance. His grabbing her had finally shaken the memory Anna had worked so hard to repress. And she had done it so well that she didn't even know it existed anymore. Now it was real and she was reliving it.
She wasn't a teenager anymore, she was eleven years old. A man, much older, had her pinned to the wall. She could hear her mother screaming at him to release Anna, but he didn't.
Through her tears Anna recognised him, Ash, her mother's pimp. Then she felt it, cold hard steel against her throat, she heard his scratchy voice whisper into her ear, "Now be a good girl for Ash and no one has to get hurt."
He pulled back slightly and she looked at him, terrified. She knew what he intended to do. He was going to rape her.
"Please don't hurt me." She whispered.
Rogue watched the scene in horror. Anna's whispered, almost pathetic pleading made Lance stop his rant and look at her in shock.
"What?" He asked, taking a step back, but not releasing her. He looked at Rogue, who knew something deeper was going on and had pulled out her communicator. She was giving directions and telling someone to hurry.
Anna shook as she heard Ash unfasten his zip, the tears came harder, but she didn't dare cry out. He would hurt her more. How many times had she heard, even seen this exact same thing happen to her mother.
Suddenly someone pulled him away, her mother. Gail pushed him to the floor, and being drunk he stayed there, too intoxicated to move.
"Anna, for god's sake run!" She yelled.
"I wont leave you." Screamed Anna.
Gail crossed over to her daughter as Ash climbed to his feet, "Bitch!" He spat, passing the knife from one hand to the other, almost three foot away from Gail, he lunged.
"NO!" Screamed Anna. She pushed Lance back and the sudden movement made him almost lose his balance. He steadied and remained frozen afraid to move.
She felt an incredible pain in her hand as she swung her fist round to try and keep Ash away from her mother. She was so scared; she punched him in the stomach.
Anna shook her head, She could hear screaming, but it was real. She looked around, confused. Rogue was kneeling by Lance, screaming for help. Anna lifted her hand and knew, if not how, but what had happened. She had stabbed him with her claws.
He was bleeding badly. Anna stared, unable to move. Rogue tried to stem the bleeding with her hands. She would be the first to admit she was in full panic mode. She prayed that the team would arrive soon.
Glancing over her shoulder she saw Anna slide down the side of the car, her face unreadable.
"Anna, ya gotta help me! He's bleedin' out." Cried Rogue.
Before Anna replied, if she could, a car screeched into the car park and the team climbed out. Scott and Kurt ran to Lance, and after checking his pulse, lifted him into the X-Van.
Kurt returned to comfort Rogue who was in near hysteria from shock. Logan, meanwhile, had found his daughter.
"Anna?" He cried, grabbing her arms and pulling her to her feet, "What did you do?"
She looked at her father for a moment before replying, "I killed him. And the bastard deserved it."