Okay, if I start typing in excessive italics, it means it's a flashback, peeps.

Eric Lensherr stared down at the chess board before him. Yes, he discovered that he could now move the metal pieces. It had been a gradual process. Slow. But soon, he could move them all the way across the board. The cure was no longer working but Eric's early power had decreased greatly. He wasn't sure whether to celebrate or mourn.

Suddenly the man became aware of someone sitting down across from him. He didn't bother looking up at first but the person refused to leave. Finally, with an irritated sigh, he let his eyes wander upward to meet those of the stranger.

They knew each other.

"Well, hello, John." Eric manually moved a chess piece across the board. "Have you come to play?"

Pyro was surprised at Magneto calling him by his human name. "Pyro." He picked up a chess piece and held it out to Eric. "Don't you remember our cause?"

Eric laughed. "Yes, yes, of course I do. But unfortunately, I can no longer fight for it." He met Pyro's inquisitive eyes. "I was given the cure." Pausing, he let it sink in before continuing. "The long-term affects were never fully explored, however. I have regained some of my powers but my old strength is gone." He lifted the chess piece out of Pyro's hand and let it drop onto the board. "That is about the full extent of what I can do, anymore."

Without thinking, Pyro stood up and shoved all the pieces off the table, in a complete tantrum. "No! They can't do this!" He put his hands back on the table and leaned over it, trying to catch his breath. It couldn't end like this.

And maybe it didn't have to.

With sudden inspiration, Pyro looked into the eyes of his former mentor. "I think I might know someone who can help you with your little problem."

Xavier's School for Gifted was an impressive structure. Storm led Aalene down hallway after hallway, each one with rows of doors on both sides. How many rooms could there possibly be in this one building? But every now and then, she'd glance down at the lighter in her hands and click it on, watching the fire dance. Suddenly, she realized that Storm was talking to her.

"Professor Richard Xavier started this school a number of years ago for young mutants like you. Quite a few of them are runaways while others have parents who send them here under the impression that this is a prep school." Storm turned another corner and greeted some younger mutants with a smile. "We do offer academic classes along with classes to hone your abilities."

Aalene stopped walking and whirled around angrily, to face Storm. "Whoa there, Stormy. I might need a place to stay for a while but this is not a long term deal. And I am definitely not going to your dumb school." She twisted a blue lock of hair between her fingers, defiantly.

Storm assumed that would be her response. With a small smile, she replied. "Well, I just hope you'll change your mind. This really is a fine school."

"Yeah," Aalene smirked. "And, of course, you're completely unbiased, despite the fact that you run it." She put her hands on her hips and looked up at Storm. "Let's just get this straight. I don't trust you, you don't trust me. Just let me do my thing, and you do yours. I think if we're careful, we can avoid crossing paths." She flipped her hair over her shoulder.

Pursing her lips, Storm tried to control her temper. Instead of pursuing their previous conversation, she studied Aalene's strange hair. It was brown, naturally, but it appeared that Aalene had dyed it blue underneath. "What a strange hair color."

Aalene was fooling with the old shark lighter again. Click, click, click. She looked up at Storm with a smirk. "Says the young African-American with white hair."

Touché. The attitude was familiar. Storm was a little unsettled as she led Aalene farther into the school. "You'll be rooming with Kitty Pryde. I'm sure you'll get along just fine. She's a very sweet girl." She opened a door to a room with two beds, one messily thrown together and another that looked as if it hadn't been slept in for some time.

"Goodie." Aalene tucked the lighter away in her pocket and flopped onto the neatly made bed. "You'll have to forgive me if I look a fright. I didn't really have much time to pack many clothes." Her sarcasm was filled with venom as vibes of hostility seemed to fill the room.

Trying to force a smile on her face, Storm responded calmly. "I'm pretty sure a certain student, Ro-um, Marie could help you with that. You seem just about her size." She was about the leave the room when she paused at the door frame. "Oh, and try to stay out of trouble, Legacy." With that, she exited, leaving Aalene alone with her thoughts. At least for a time.

After merely a few minutes alone, Aalene heard laughing in the hallway and looked up from where she sat. Four teenagers were entering the room-two girls, and three guys. Upon seeing her, they all stopped their chatter and giggling, clearly puzzled. One of the girls, who seemed to be slightly younger than the rest, stepped forward. "Hi, my name is Kitty. You're new here, aren't you?"

Slightly irritated, Aalene leaned back on the bed. "No shit, Kitty. Did you see me living in your room yesterday?" She rolled her eyes. "The name's Legacy, roomie." She extended her hand, for a half-hearted handshake but Kitty just stared at it, seeming sort of wounded. Aalene just shrugged. Suit yourself.

One of the boys, anxious to break the ice that was so evident in the room stepped forward. "Hi, my name is Warren." He pointed to the other two boys and the remaining girl standing beside him. "That's Peter, and that's Bobby, and that's his girlfriend, Marie."

As a greeting, Aalene just nodded. "So, you guys freaks too?" She felt in her pocket for her cigarettes but found none. "Damn it!" The white-haired chick stole my cigarettes, she realized. Looking up, she noticed the other teenagers' puzzlement. "Forget it."

"Well, I hope you'll find this place as welcome and helpful as I did." Warren once again tried to break up the discomfort in the room. "Hey, we were thinking about heading to the gardens to hang out. Do you want to join us?"

For the first time, Aalene noticed that Warren had wings, sprouting out of his back. She took a moment to admire them as she thought about her answer. "No, I think I'll just stay here." She said absent-mindedly as she stared at the magnificent wings. For a moment, she considered reaching out to touch them but she held back, and covered up her astonishment with another comment. "Crying shame, though. I really am great company." She smiled menacingly at Kitty. "See you around, roomie."

Upon reaching the gardens, Kitty finally recovered from the incident inside. Her face red with anger, she turned to the others. "What's her problem?"

Peter seemed to have similar feelings towards the new girl. "She did seem a little rude."

"Well, we have to take into consideration that she's could have been through a lot." Marie remembered the circumstances that had brought her to Xavier's school. She shuddered as she remembered her first kiss…that had almost killed her boyfriend. "Maybe she's just trying to figure out who she is. What she is."

Warren seemed to take Marie's side. "We just need to give her some time. She'll probably come around."

Everyone turned to Bobby, who still hadn't spoken. He seemed to be wrapped up in his own thoughts, turning something over and over in his mind. As far as the others could tell, what he was thinking about was causing him discomfort.

"Bobby? Bobby, what is it?" Marie reached out with her hands-now gloveless thanks to the cure-and grabbed her boyfriend's arm. "Is something bothering you?"

Finally breaking lose from his troubling thoughts, Bobby looked up. "Yeah, did Aalene remind you of anyone?" He looked up at Marie and Peter, the ones most likely to remember what he was talking about.

Peter shook his head. "No, she didn't really look familiar."

"No, no. I'm not talking about what she looks like. Her attitude. Does it remind you of anyone?" He looked at his girlfriend, urging her to think about it. Suddenly, her eyes lit up with recognition and she responded.

"John." It came out almost like a whisper, but it was enough to successfully send a tiny bit of fear into everyone's heart.

Bobby nodded. "Pyro." He thought about it some more. The similarities were astounding-more than a little unsettling.

Everyone was silent. Even Kitty, who hadn't known John very well, herself, was quiet. Bobby took a moment to glance back the school, praying that he was wrong. He didn't think he could handle losing one more acquaintance to the wrong side.

Aalene stared in the mirror for a long time for those hours she was given alone. She studied every line of her face and every hair on her head. She took special notice to her eyes, a vibrant green that often turned a piercing blue when she used her powers. What did they hold? Hope? Or evil?

When she couldn't bare to look at herself any longer, Aalene grabbed the shark lighter off the dresser and walked briskly into the hallway. She passed by a kitchen, and then quickly retraced her steps. Walking to the counter, she sat down at a stool, and placed her hands against the hard, cold surface. Her encounter with the five other mutants had taken a lot out of her. She couldn't handle it, looking into the eyes of what she was, what she had denied for years.

"Aalene? Aalene? Come on, talk to me. We've been best friend for years now. Just tell me what's on your mind." Charli Fane tried to get her friend to look her in the eye. "You can tell me anything. Don't you know that by now?"

A 13-year-old Aalene looked up, finally meeting her friend's gaze. "I have to leave, Charli. I have to leave tonight." She nervously wrung her hand. "They found out."

Face turning pale, Charli sat back on the old park bench, not sure how to comfort Aalene. The girl thought about it for a while, trying to figure out another course of action her friend could take. "Isn't there another option?"

"No." Aalene was adamant in her decision. "This is the only way. You should've seen the way the reacted when the found out. My mom was crying, acting wounded, like I had become a mutant on purpose, just to hurt her. And my dad…oh god, Charli. I've never seen him so angry." She closed her eyes, hoping to keep the bad memories out. "Good bye. Thanks for sticking with me this long."

Charli nodded, trying to keep tears from falling down her cheeks. "I'm going to miss you, Aalene."

Aalene couldn't even talk anymore, for fear of breaking down. She just nodded and got up, leaving her friend alone on the park bench. On that October night, Aalene had left a lot of things behind. An entire life…

Coming back to reality, Aalene realized she was crying. Angrily, she wiped the tears away. Charli was dead and so was the Aalene the world had known. Nothing would ever be the same again and there would be no crying over it.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help but hear you crying. Are you alright?"

Aalene turned to see Warren giving her a concerned look from the doorway. He walked over and sat down beside her, the concerned expression never leaving his face.

"Oh, let me guess. You're the school's Good Samaritan?" Aalene was angry and suddenly irritable that Warren had caught her in a moment of weakness. She shot the sarcasm at him with fierceness that shocked even herself.

Warren just continued to stare at Aalene. "You use your sarcasm as a defense mechanism. You fear that if you just be yourself, or open up to someone, you'll get hurt. So you build up walls around yourself." He stated. "Walls even Kitty would have trouble walking through."

That was it for Aalene. The last straw. She stood up with such abruptness, her stool flew back. "Listen, dude! If this is your idea of making me feel better, you're a horrible counselor. I don't need to be analyzed!" she screamed at him. "Just leave me alone!" With that, she walked as quickly as she could toward her room.

As she reached it, Aalene threw open the door and went to her bed, where she could better think. She took out the lighter and began to play with it.

"Hey."

The girl looked up. It was Kitty Pryde. "Hi there, Kitty. Miss me much?"

Kitty just stared at Aalene, studying her tear-stained face. "Have you been crying?"

Aalene sighed and flopped back in her bed, pressing her pillow into her face. How many do-gooders can there be in one school?

I liked half of this chapter. The other half just kind of...I don't know. Somethind didn't see right about it. Tell me what you think. The next chapter will hopefully be a little more interesting. Please review!