:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Professor Xavier's office

"Do you boys realize what you could have done to that girl's psyche?" Professor Xavier asked, and John and Bobby lowered their heads in shame. "She's gone through a lot- broken bones, torture, a life on the run. We don't know how much more she can take." he told them, and they nodded.

"I was the one who found her, and I wanted Bobby to see her." John admitted, realizing that with his abilities, the Professor would find out either way. Adults like it when you tell the truth, right? "Sorry." he mumbles, and Xavier nods.

"I tried to tell her that she was safe here, but she really didn't listen." Bobby says, and Charles looks at him, urging him to continue. "I told her that we wouldn't hurt her, and then she started freaking out. She said that we could cut her or burn her, but please not the mind games. Then she fell to the floor and started having the seizure."

"Someone wanted to break her." Professor Xavier says, shaking his head sadly. "I just don't know how far they got."

Study Hall

Rogue looks around in boredom, and zeroes in on John. She wads up a rough draft of her Benjamin Franklin report and throws it at him. 'Where's Bobby?' she mouths as he rubs his head, pretending to look hurt. Although Bobby and Rogue were way over as a couple, he did entertain her during Study Hall.

'Watching over the new girl.' John mouths back, though it takes a couple tries to decipher it. When Rogue looks completely lost, John explains further. 'She's hot.'

Girl's room

"How are things going, Bobby?" Wolverine asks, stopping by the mystery girl's room as he passes. Bobby shrugs.

"It's ok. I don't really know why the Professor picked me to watch her, though." Bobby tells him, thoroughly puzzled.

"Well, Chuckie's odd like that sometimes." he says, noting how Bobby glances to the girl every couple of seconds. "Maybe it's because he thinks that she'll trust you. You're a pretty-boy, and you don't look too dangerous." he adds, smirking. He can tell that Bobby's worried about this girl, whoever she is. "So, do we know anything about her?" he asks, and Bobby shakes his head.

"Only that she was tortured pretty bad. Everything- mind games, beatings, every possible kind of torture, she's had it." he says, looking at the girl lying so helplessly on the bed. "Who would want to hurt someone that bad? What did she ever do?" he asks, and Wolverine pats him on the shoulder.

"She's ok now, kid. The Professor won't let anything happen to her." he tells Bobby, who nods. "Well, I should go...lots of people to make fun of, so little time." he says, and starts out of the room.

A slight rustling makes him stop short in his tracks. Bobby looks to the bed, where the girl is starting to stir. Her eyelids flutter open, revealing emerald orbs filled with an almost irrational amount of fear. Bobby's eyes are the first thing that she locks onto, and even more fear sinks into her. You can see her spirit break, crack in half.

"Shhh, we won't hurt you, I promise." he whispers as she rubs her arms in a desperate attempt to keep warm. "Are you cold?" he asks, looking for a blanket. "Of course you're cold, you're severely underweight." he mutters to himself as the girl's eyes find Wolverine. She eyes him suspiciously as Bobby wraps a blanket around her shoulders.

"I'm one of the good guys." Logan says, a little bit nervous of the feral look in the girl's eyes. She turns to Bobby, looking to him for an answer. Bobby looks to Wolverine, who shrugs. Bobby turns his icy blue eyes to her green ones, and nods.

She lets it go, acknowledging Logan as one of the good guys, or at least not as a threat. If he was a threat, she would have killed him as soon as Bobby gave her confirmation that he was bad.

She curls up in a ball on the bed and closes her eyes, wishing that the world would go away. Bobby takes her hand lightly, not really knowing how she'll react. "It's okay. I promise that nothing bad will happen to you anymore. You're safe here." he tells her, and her eyes open.

She looks like a child, lying on that bed so much like a little girl trying to hide from the monsters under the bed. But her monsters are bigger, scarier, more real. Her monsters want her dead, want to make her a human science experiment.

She starts crying softly, not knowing how else to react. She's safe. No one can hurt her. Someone was waiting for her when she woke up, and it wasn't to continue the never-ending stream of torture. Someone doesn't want her dead.

"I'll go tell the Professor." Logan says, and Bobby nods, not really paying attention to anything but this girl, and trying to help her. He walks out of the room, trying to listen to their conversation, but the girl doesn't talk. Only Bobby does. Maybe that's part of shutting herself down, he thinks as he hurries to Chuck's office. "Probably already knows," he mumbles as he walks down the hall.

He does, a voice resonates within his head. Go get the girl some food, Logan. She hasn't eaten in a very long time.

Fine, but I have to remind you that this is a very irritating form of communication, Logan thinks. The Professor doesn't answer, so he heads to the cafeteria.

Girl's room, 15 minutes later

The Professor rolls into the room, and smiles at the girl, who eyes him suspiciously. "He's the one who owns this school. He wants to help you." he tells her, and her gaze softens.

"I want to help you, child." Xavier says softly, as the girl wraps her arms around her knees in the protective stance that she has been using since she woke up. "This is a school for mutants, for people who are not normal, for people like you." he says softly, looking to Bobby for a demonstration to help the girl understand.

"He's right." Bobby tells her, putting his hand on the table and closing his eyes for a moment. He opens them and removes his hand, and there lies a star made of ice. Puzzlement fills the girl's face. "All of us students are like that here. We can do stuff that normal people can't." he tells her, and she gives a small nod, showing that she understands.

"I want to help you find our family, and tell them that you are all right." Xavier tells her, and she smiles a little in thanks. He clears his throat, ready to get to work. "Do you remember anything at all?" he asks, and she shrugs. "Your name, where you were...anything?" he asks, trying to get into her mind to see her thoughts, but a barrier stops him. She was trained for this.

She shakes her head, and the Professor sends a thought to Bobby. We need her to remember, Bobby. Otherwise her family won't know. Bobby nods inconspicuously, and turns to the girl. "Anything you remember could be helpful, okay? Do you remember anything?" he asks, and she shudder.

"332960073451...." she whispers, looking at them like it should mean something. Her voice is raw from non-use, and it sounds hollow as she stares into the bedsheets. "...Familiars..."she shudders, pausing. Bobby takes her hand, trying to comfort her. She looks at him, her clover-green eyes filled with such a pain that he had never seen before, a pain that no one should feel.

"Manticore." she says almost inaudibly, and tears fill her eyes. "Killed Jack, then Eva. We ran, and I lost them." she says, looking away. Bobby rubs her back soothingly. She looks at him, surprised.

"I'm sorry, child, but we need to find out who tried to hurt you, and make it so they can never hurt anyone again." the Professor tells her, and she nods. "Do you remember your name?" he asks her, as an afterthought.

She shakes her head. "My designation is 332960073451. I don't remember." she tells him, pulling back her long black tresses away to reveal the insignia that is the only representation of her tortured childhood- a black barcode etched into her neck. "I....I wasn't born, I was made." she say quietly, looking at them through a guarded mask.

"Well, you'll fit right in here." Bobby says, and a look of relief sweeps over her face. "Welcome to Mutant High." he says, giving her a warm smile.

Professor Xavier quietly leaves the room, glad that this girl has started to open up to someone. He hears her laugh softly, and smiles to himself. Whoever tried to break her, hadn't. She had still retained her sanity, and a shred of innocence. They hadn't won...and they were going to pay...

A/N

SORRY!!!! My computer's decided that it hates me, so we had a virus. But as soon as it was gone, I got on and wrote this. Sorry if it's really bad.

Review, my pretties, and I will update ASAP!!!!!

Luv,

molly jeane