Fear was thick in the air, Tracy could smell it's heavy scent as she watched her friends carefully. Knowing Vienna was the bravest she made a small motion with her free to for the white haired girl to come closer. Unemotional, white eyes peered into amber ones. She took a step forward slowly, then another. She continued in this fashion until she was standing next to the tiger and Tracy. Her hand was taken by the tiger woman and gently placed on the tiger's head. She hesitantly pet the large cat, afraid she was moving to fast she slowed her motions down. To her surprise the tiger leaned back into her hand and encouraged her to continue petting. A grin spread across her face as she enjoyed the feel of the tiger's soft fur. The others, encouraged by the scene before them, joined them. Soon all in the group were petting the tiger. Tracy had stepped back to watch her friends commune with their fear, obviously not aware of what was going on. Turning away from the pleased group she left them to find their own way back to the mansion as she saught to find the darkest corner of the forest, so she could face her own fear.

She knew exactly when they realized she was no longer there, she could hear their whisperings of worry, the stink of fear returning heavily. Still she walked on. Tracy only stopped walking when she could no longer see where she was going, even with her enhanced eyesight, the surroundings before her were invisible. Fear gripped her heart, questions filled her head. What will I do now? Is this truly necessary? Brushing the feeling of hopelessness away she sat down in the dirt. Opening her mind to the expanse of forest around her, she searched for signs of life. She did not know how long she sat there, nor when dark came upon the earth. She merely existed in the moment. Gradually her heart beat slowed down, breathing thickened. To the world now, she was dead. This state of intense meditation was her only way of facing the dark beyond. Her astral body slowly guided itself free of her body's trappings, freeing her self of the physical realm. She wandered aimlessly through the forest as her astral self, when she was in her body she couldn't see, but when she was free of her body she could see everything and more. All living things were revealed to her in those moments, she could feel the connections between the creatures around her.

When she finally decided to return to her body it was well into the early morning. Opening her eyes as soon as her astral form united with her body she looked around. Still nothing was seen, except now there were two, glowing, blue orbs staring back at her. Holding her breath, Tracy stared back into the eyes with apprehension. She watched as they seemed to bounce around in midair as they steadily rose. She stood up from the ground to meet the person or creature when she heard a familiar voice.

"Ya know it ain't safe fer lil runts like ya ta run 'round in th' forest at night." Victor's softly chiding voice made her grin broadly.

"That I know, but I needed the time alone." Tracy responded, not feeling the urge to get into it any deeper. She felt more than saw the tall blonde man shrug. His enormous hand on her shoulder turning her back towards where she assumed was the mansion made her turn obediently. Walking under his guidance, she carefully stepped over thngs when he warned her. Wondering how he could see in the dark so easily she asked him how.

"M'vision is more practiced in th' dark." He answered so simply that Tracy now pondered how much time he spent in the darkness. When she asked him her question he grunted at her in annoyance.

"What is this? Twenty questions?" Tracy grinned at Victor's obvious irritation. When they stepped into the light she sighed in relief. She loved the dark, but it was excellent to be back into safe ground. The lamps surrounding the edge of the gigantic property guided their path as they walked towards the mansion. Tracy immediately started scaling the wall when she was close enough so she could get to her room but a hand grasping her shirt made her stop abrubtly. Her head whipped towards Victor, her eyes asking for an explanation.

"Don't stay out so late nex' time Trace, it ain't safe." There was an underlying emotion in his voice but she couldn't identify it. She nodded in agreement and continued climbing when he released her shirt. Once up in her room she stepped in the shower, redressed into some under clothes and fell asleep in her bed.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The next morning there was another person present at breakfast with them. Tracy recognized her as the girl she and Victor had watched when they were in the tree together. Her long, blonde curls were tyed back at the nape of her neck so they stayed out of her face, but she could see they hung down to the top of her bottom. Blue eyes flit around the room, locking onto the large blonde man at the head of the table most often. Easy chatter fell among the table as usual as Dezra brought out the food. When Victor stood up at his end of the table everyone fell silent, they knew he had something to say.

"T'day is th' beginin' o' th' week of strenuous work. Most o' yer exercises if not led by me, will be led by m'daughter Victoria." He made a motion towards the blonde haired woman absently before sitting down. They began to eat then, Tracy watched Victoria during most of breakfast. She studied her movements like a predator does prey, she tried to figure out what she was thinking through her body language. When her observant suddenly turned and looked at her the tiger woman was unsure how to react so she continued to unabashedly stare at her.

"Something you need?" The soft words gained everyone at the tables attention, Tracy now felt rather embarassed. She shrugged and continued to eat her waffle. Victoria looked upset by her answer and growled low, her heritage becoming of use.

"Do not stare at me and then act as if it is nothing, it was rude." The harsh words made Tracy's anger flare up. She bared her teeth and growled at the woman, white fangs flashing in the light. The next thing that she knew she had fangs piercing her neck and claws swiping at her body. She hardly took notice of the fact that her chair had been knocked over and that half the food on the table had fallen with it. Her amber eyes flashed with anger as she fought to use her claws to dig into the soft flesh of the woman above her. Flipping the blonde over she ripped her head away before Victoria took out her jugular. Dipping into the woman's mind with telepathy she cut off the connections between her mind and limbs, effectively pinning her prey. Tracy was abrubtly pulled away from the woman before she could do anymore damage however, Victor's strong arms lifting her up and away. She roared fiercely, kicking at the legs of her captor, struggling to free herself.

"Stop fightin' Tracy!" Victor's angry voice stopped her struggles immediately, she did not want him angry at her. Amidst the fight a scream from above stopped everyone's movements. Victoria was off the floor quicker than imagineable and up the stairs. When she came down minutes later she held a child in her arms gently, the little boy looked around two years old. His blonde hair was like his mothers, curly and wild, but his eyes were brown. Tracy had never met a person in this family that had brown eyes.

"Good morning William!" Dezra greeted the child happily, swooping him up into her arms and hugging him tightly. The little boy squealed excitedly with laughter. The tiger woman looked on at the scene with a sense of longing. Sweet family, she thought to herself. Going back over to the table she righted her chair before leaving for her morning walk. She didn't want to face the family right now. Stepping out into the snow she shivered from the cold, she would go back into the house but she didn't want to. Forcing herself to ignore the freezing temperature she walked on, barefeet freezing in the snow. When she couldn't take it anymore she went up to her room by scaling the wall like the night before. Once in her room she shut her window quickly to block out the cold air. Examining her closet she pulled out her makeshift uniform. Dezra had started on her uniform but it wasn't complete yet so until then she wore shorts and a tank top when working with the team.

"What was up with you this morning?" Vienna's voice came out of nowhere, making Tracy jump and twirl around in a hurry. Seeing her white haired friend before her she gasped.

"Vi! You scared the heck outa me!" Tracy exclaimed telepathically to her friend. The pure white woman laughed lightly at her answer.

"Here I thought that was impossible." She said dryly. "Still, question still stands, what was up with you this morning?" She asked, referring to Tracy and Victoria's fight earlier. The tiger woman shrugged in answer.

"Not much to say, I scoped her out, she got irritated, we fought." Another shrug. "Not much more to say." Tracy turned back to her closet and started to redress. Vienna was unsatisfied with her answer and manually spun her around to face her.

"What do you mean, 'scoped her out'?" The white girl raised a questioning eyebrow to her friend, her look asked, 'you're straight right?' Tracy laughed lightly before answering.

"Not what you're thinking girl, I'm straight, be sure of that! When I say 'scoped her out' I mean, I checked her out to see what her intentions were. To see if she could be trusted." The answer seemed to relieve Vienna and she visibly relaxed.

"Can she be trusted?" Tracy thought over earlier that morning quickly. She had an unsure look on her face.

"I'm not sure yet, I guess time will tell." She answered as she finished dressing. "Let's go, we have a session with Sabretooth in five minutes." With that said the two women left their room and headed towards the workout room.

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(A/N) Whatcha think people? Good? Bad? Try your best not to flame, but please, give me your honest opinion. -Sabeybaby