February

A blue-tinted, shadowy figure slipped through the doors of a laboratory and slowly sidled towards a man dressed in white.

"What is it Mystique?" Magneto didn't even turn, concentrating on the test-tubes in front of him.

"It's the boy…"

"What about him?"

"I don't trust him. He's too close, too connected."

"His connection is the basis of this whole plan. We need him."

"But it's too risky. Couldn't we just get someone else?"

Magneto stood and turned to face her, "We need her. There have only been three telepaths in the mutant world to date. The first would be too strong for any to control, the second has disappeared and the third… the third is plagued by dreams. Her will-power struggles and weakens, and we can use that. She is connected to many other mutants; with enough force she could connect to the world. She is our power, our life-force… and he is the key."

"But what if he turns?"

"He won't… you'll make sure of that."

Mystique smirked and nodded. Her skin rolled, changing colour; her hair lengthened and turned a deeper auburn; her gold eyes turned a startling blue. She adjusted her white tank top.

"Perfect…" Magneto murmured.

John stood at the window of his room, looking out across the institute grounds. He heard her footsteps behind her. "This is a dream…" he said.

"Perhaps…" she replied, "But perhaps it is a vision."

He turned to face her, "A vision of what? How things could have been?"

"No, of how things should have been." Therese stepped closer, whispering, "You should be with us Tiger."

He pulled back, "I'm happy with where I am."

"But you do not belong."

"I am appreciated."

"No! You are manipulated."

"I don't want to go back… to be treated like a child."

"We're treated with respect now." She placed a hand on his heart, looking at it. Her head tilted upwards to his and she whispered, "You're powers are changing; evolving everyday. And you're not alone; Rogue feels it, Bobby feels it… I feel it."

Silence descended. Finally Therese spoke, "You powers need to be treated with respect and not abused. The brotherhood is using you."

Pyro took her hand in his, "Therese, a war is coming. A war to end all wars… and mutants will reign."

"No!" Therese pulled away from him sharply, "John, you and Magneto believe it will be a war between mutants and humans. It won't. It will be a war pitching mutant against mutant. You know that the X-men will fight to save the human race. We'll kill each other, before any human being is harmed."

"Therese," Pyro gripped her shoulders, "We are the elite. We are better than them."

Therese pulled away from him, "Is that what you think?"

"Yes."

"Then maybe you are not the man I thought you were, John."

Pyro angered, "No! I'm not a man, I'm a mutant!"

Therese glared at him, pitying him, "Goodbye… Pyro."

"Therese!" he called, watching her fade. He growled in exasperation and punched the wall.

Mystique lifted her hand from Pyro's sleeping face and smirked. Changing to her own form, she quickly left to inform Magneto of the progress.

"Marie, get your power-sapping ass outta' that bathroom!" Therese hammered on the door.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Rogue wrenched open the door and let Therese push past her.

"Thank God! I've been dying to get in here for 20 minutes. Our first briefing is in 10 minutes."

Rogue's face dropped faster than Justin dropped Britney. "Uh-oh," she said, her expression showing that she had clearly forgotten about the mission.

"How the hell did you forget?" Therese exclaimed.

"I don't know, I guess with all the stuff 'flying' around at the moment it slipped my mind." Rogue lifted her arm, revealing the bruise she'd got after bumping into Kurt without her gloves on, disappearing and reappearing mid-air, dropping to the floor and hitting her arm off a table on the way down.

"Well, just move it. Professor Xavier won't be too happy with us if we're late."

Ten minutes later, Therese and Rogue rushed into Professor Xavier's office declaring their 'sorries' profusely.

Xavier smiled, "You're right on time. Please take a seat."

Rogue dropped into the seat beside Bobby, and Therese sat beside Auroro.

"Scott, if you'd like to proceed." Xavier let Scott take the floor.

"Okay," Scott stood up, "Basically we're going out to collect another new mutant. She's quite young and her power is invisibility which will make her hard to find-"

"That's where Therese will come in." Auroro cut in, nodding towards her, "Therese, you'll be the only one able to… see her. Your powers mean that you can sense her, and you can hold her in one position."

"Yeah, but not for very long," Therese replied, "My powers aren't quite as advanced as the Professor's or…"

"Yeah," Scott said after an uncomfortable silence, "but we're unsure of whether the Brotherhood knows of her yet. If they do then we could have a fight our hands- she'd be an asset to either team. Which is why we've got a full team today. That's about it. We leave in 20 minutes. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I have one." Therese said.

"Yes?"

"Does this girl have a name?"

Xavier raised an eyebrow. He'd been waiting for that question from a first-timer for a long time. Therese had seen what many before her hadn't- that this new mutant was a person; not just an object, a goal. "Yes," he said, "her name is Tara."

Therese nodded and followed Rogue out, walking towards the hanger.

Therese buckled her belt as the team prepared for take-off. Rogue fidgeted in her seat.

"Rogue, are you okay?" Bobby asked.

"I'm fine," she replied, "I just haven't really had the best experiences in this thing," she pulled at her latex suit, "and I'm trying to get used to this suit."

"They aren't exactly the most comfortable at first," Logan said, "But believe me, you'll appreciate being able to move so easily when your kicking ass."

Auroro smiled, "Logan, I do believe you're showing that you like being an X-man."

Logan growled, "Whatever."

"Okay, one more thing." Scott called back from the pilot's seat, "When we land we use code-names."

Rogue looked up, "Therese! You were supposed to come up with one."

Therese thought for a moment and finally said, "Eirana," in a decided tone.

"Eirana?" Bobby said.

"The Greek Goddess of Peace and Justice," Auroro said, "nice… very nice."

Eirana walked before the rest of the group and stopped in the middle of the deserted wasteland. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath, sensing those around her. She slowly counted each aura, 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6…… 7? That was her! The seventh aura; yellowish, showing fear, stood less than 3 metres from Nightcrawler.

"Gotcha…" she murmured.

Opening her eyes, she pivoted to the place were she had seen it. The space was empty. The others looked around themselves. Cyclops and Wolverine walked away, guarding the group from a surprise attack from the Brotherhood.

"Concentrate…" Storm whispered.

She closed her eyes, searching for the aura. Suddenly she felt air move past her and, focusing, she caught the end of an aura. She twisted, her eyes still closed. Rogue and Iceman watched her.

In an instant, Eirana had spun and brought her hand up as though to catch something. "It's okay, you can show yourself…" she said aloud.

As her eyes opened, the air in front of her shimmered and a figure appeared. "What do you want?" the girl cried.

Eirana walked forward, still holding the girl in place, "We just want to help. We won't hurt you."

The girl looked past Eirana, "Will they?"

"Eirana, down!" Iceman called, before spraying freeze before him. Eirana looked up from the ground at Toad's frozen tongue.

Scrambling to her side, she grabbed Tara's arm, "Come on, Tara."

The girl stumbled as she ran, "How do you know my name?"

Eirana pushed her down behind an old mattress, "I came to help. My name is Therese. Just do me a favour; shimmer invisible and stay here. I'll come back when it's safe." She watched Tara disappear and she ran out onto the wasteland.

She stopped a metal hub disc in mid-air before it struck Wolverine, who was locked in combat with Sabretooth. Ducking, she rolled away as Mystique swung for her. Jumping up, she lifted Mystique high into the air and threw her across the ground. Mystique pulled herself up and flipped towards her, kicking her in the stomach.

Eirana crumpled in pain, holding her winded side. "Stupid child, did you think you could possibly beat me?" A crack filled the air as Mystique brought her fist up on Eirana's jaw, "I am more powerful than you could ever imagine." Eirana stumbled back, blinded by pain. She heard the wind move as Mystique swung and she clenched Mystique's fist in her hand. Opening her eyes, she saw Mystique's face, filled with shock.

"You're not the only one who can sense or feel something," Eirana twisted Mystique's arm behind her back, "I'm a telepath, remember?" She threw Mystique forward and walked towards her, "And I'll have no worries about kicking… your… ass." She punctuated each word to emphasise it.

"But could you kick mine?" a voice that she knew all too well spoke.

She twisted to face him, "Probably."

He motioned for Mystique to go, "This ones mine."

Eirana watched her go towards Storm and turned back to him. Her eyes were drawn to the fireball in his hand. "Are you going to use that on me, Tiger?" she asked.

She saw his eyes flicker and felt his inner turmoil; his confliction.

"If I need to…" he replied slowly.

"I knew someone would turn," she told him, "I just didn't think it would be you."

"I haven't turned," he said, "This is where I've belonged from the start. Not in Xavier's stupid school."

"Why? Why did you turn away from us? From me?" she murmured, "Why wouldn't you let me in?" She searched inside him, feeling her way through his memories.

"Get out of my head." He growled.

"I'll always be in your head," she replied, "Just like you're always in mine."

He growled in rage and threw the fireball. She held up her hand and fired it back at him. She back flipped as another crashed into the scrap metal behind her. She swung her right leg towards him and he ducked. He swung his fist and she blocked it, catching him in the stomach with a well-aimed punch. Bent double he grabbed her legs together and pulled them from beneath her. She grabbed his arm and pulled him down on top of her. She looked up into his eyes, her chest heaving.

She looks so vunerable. Something pulled at his heart. "I don't want to hurt you," he whispered.

"Then don't," she replied.

"Give us the girl," he pleaded.

"You know I can't. I have to protect her."

"Then join us."

She pushed him off her and got up, "I can't." Tears filled her eyes, "I'm so sorry." She lifted him high into the air and flung him into Sabretooth.

"Let's go," Mystique cried.

"This isn't over." Sabretooth growled at Wolverine as Pyro stood and looked at Eirana.

Eirana watched him turn away and she ran to the pile, she left Tara at. Tara reappeared. "Come on," she grabbed Tara's wrist, "We gotta' go."

She stopped before running up the steps into the jet, and turned to look at Pyro. Their eyes met and she felt her heart wrenching.

"Come on!" Wolverine called and pulled her into the jet.

She dropped into a chair and closed her eyes, trying to stop the stinging.