Regina: Okay, I'm gonna keep this short, and just say that this chapter may explain things a bit better. I hope that I haven't made things too obvious, although the one person who I have 'spoken' to about it picked up pretty quickly, but I guess he just knows me a tad too well for my liking. No offence, pal who shall remain nameless.

Anyway, I am just going to do the whole shamless plug thing, and advertise my websites, Burning Souls (at ) and Mutant High ). Oh, and when I get it up, my Beast website. Yep, that's about it. But until then, just sit back, and enjoy this next chapter of Ashes to Ashes.

And A.P.R? You're right. Bridget's power is cool. And as you helped me come to the decision to post this fic, this chapter, and possibly many other subsequent chapters are for you.

Ashes to Ashes

Chapter Two: Chaotic Truth

Bridget absently traced the edges of her chair. She was sitting in an interview room in the local police station, having been taken their after she had set the car on fire.

As she was a minor, they could not question her without her parents, and as she was a mutant, most of the officers did not want to be near her. And so they left her alone in the room, kept there by a locked door, and watched her from behind the relative safety of a two-way mirror.

Bridget let out a sigh. She had not said a word since she had set the car on fire. She had not told the police who she was, where she lived, or the name of her parents. She did not want to get her parents in trouble, even though they had been lying to her for her entire life. She regretted how terrible she had been to them, and wondered if she would ever get the chance to make things right between them.

But most of all, she wondered about her birth parents. What was her mother like? Did she have her mother's eyes? What about her father? Did she have his nose, his hair? What about siblings, did she have any of those?

The main question though, was why had they abandoned her. Was the person who had sent her the card the person who had frightened them so much, that they had to give up their daughter? Were they still running, or had something happened to them? Was that person now after Bridget?

Bridget was so lost in her thoughts that she did not hear the door open behind her. She did however, hear the voice which spoke to her, and caused her to look up.

"So, you're the firebrand who set that car on fire. They told me I might find you here."

Bridget looked up. The speaker was a woman, in her mid to late thirties. She had short blonde hair, bright eyes, and a wicked smile.

But when the woman saw Bridget's face, something happened. The smile vanished, and the spark in the eyes was replaced by a look of shock and confusion.

"Amara?" the woman whispered.

"What did you call me?"

The woman blinked. "Amara? Is it really you?" Then she raced forward, and grabbed Bridget around the shoulders. "Amara? It is you! But. . . but how? After all these years. . . you're still alive! But what happened to you? You don't look a day over fifteen! Sam, come have a look at this!"

The door opened again, and a blonde man came out, about the same age as the woman. His reaction was the same as the woman's. "Amara? But. . . it's not possible!"

The woman held Bridget tighter. "Amara? Don't you recognise me? It's Tabitha!"

Bridget wriggled and squirmed in an attempt to free herself from the woman's arms. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not this Amara person. My name is Bridget Jeffries. I'm fifteen, I. . . I live at 24 Lincoln Road. . ."

The woman let Bridget go. "You're not Amara?" She squinted at Bridget. "You're right. You looks a lot like her, but some things are not right."

"Her hair," said the man. "It's got red in it."

"And the nose," added the woman. "It's not quite right. But how?"

For the second time that day Bridget shouted, "What are you talking about?! Who are you talking about?!"

The man and woman looked at each other. "You'd better sit down, girl," said the woman, "'cause you are not going to believe what we are about to tell you."

"You'd be surprised," Bridget replied dryly, sitting back down on the chair, "after the day I've had."

X X X

"My name is Tabitha Smith, and this is Sam Guthrie," began the woman. "We're both mutants, just like you. I'm Meltdown, and he's Cannonball. We're also members of the X-Men - well, one of its many branches. But we were some of the first."

"But what does that have to do with me?" asked Bridget.

"Well," said Sam, taking over from Tabitha, "we have this thing called Cerebro, and it tracks all mutants. And when you set that car on fire, it picked up on you. You're very powerful," he added, "and when we find a mutant with that sort of power - one that can cause a lot of damage - we find them. Our goal is to teach mutants to control their powers, and themselves."

"Wow," said Tabitha. "You really paid attention to those lectures we got when we were kids." She turned back to Bridget. "You're one of those mutants. We want you to come back with us. And now that we've seen you, we really want you to come with us."

Bridget looked from Tabitha, to Sam, and then back to Tabitha. "Why now? Why now that you've seen me?"

"Well," Sam was hesitant. "You look like someone we knew when were your age. Her name was Amara."

"She was my best friend at the Institute," added Tabitha. "And her mutant power was fire."

"Yeah, well, I don't know any Amara," Bridget replied. "I'm just plain old – okay, maybe not so ordinary–"

"You're anything but ordinary," Tabitha said with a smile.

"But I don't know anyone named Amara. I'm just –"

"Bridget Jeffries!"

Amara, Sam and Tabitha all looked up to see a very angry Adela, accompanied by a much meeker Justin.

"You run away. . . don't let us know where you are. . . we had to find out from the police?!"

Tabitha stood up in front of Bridget. "You must be her parents."

"Yes, we are her parents," replied Justin, stepping between Tabitha and Adela. "And who are you?"

"I am Meltdown, and what I want to know is why your daughter looks so much like Amara Aquilla."

Behind Justin, Adela let out a gasp. "What have you been telling my daughter? What do you know about Amara?" She pushed her way in front of her husband, who at this point had just given up trying to stop her. "Did they hurt you Bridget?" she asked, holding onto Bridget as if for dear life. "Are you all right?"

"Adela, let her go! She's starting to turn purple!" This was Justin.

When Adela finally let go, Tabitha said, "You have to admit it, Bridget does look like a dead-ringer for Amara. And I think you know who I'm talking about."

"I do," Adela replied softly. "But I promised her that I would say nothing. For her," Adela looked at Bridget, her eyes starting to tear.

"There's only one explanation for this," Tabitha continued. "And I think she should hear it from you."

"Do you know what they're talking about?" Sam asked Justin, both of whom had moved out the firing line between Tabitha and Adela.

"I think so."

Adela let out a sigh. "I haven't spoken about this for nearly fifteen years. Bridget, you found out today that I am not your biological mother, and that Justin is not your biological father." Tabitha nodded, having figured this out quite early on. "Well, I think it is time you knew the whole story."

"What's going on?" asked Bridget.

"I grew up on the island of Nova Roma. My best friend growing up was Amara Aquilla, the daughter of the king. But then she found out she was a mutant, and went to America, to a school for mutants. About five years later, when I was living in America, and had just married to your father, I saw her again. She came to me, begging for me to help her infant daughter. That was you, Bridget. She said that something was after her and her husband, a great power that nobody could fight, not even then. They did not want you to have to live that life, or even worse, die for it. So they asked that I raise you as my daughter, keep you safe, and most importantly, not let you know the truth."

"But now I've been found," Bridget whispered.

"Yes," Adela said sadly. "And I think it's time that you learn the truth about Amara, and

become what she should have been."

"An X-Man," Tabitha finished.