Author's Note:

Just to clear a few things up...

1)The girl's name is Andrea-Danielle.

2)Her cousin's name is Gianni, but his nickname is Chino because he had Asian-looking eyes as a child.

3)Any other questions let me know, but things will be better cleared up in the next chapter—X-Men are coming, don't worry!

And sorry for any confusions in previos chqapters, i just realized that certain names were absent throughout the chapters, such as Mr. Logan's and Dr. McCoy's, but I think I've fixed them all!

Rate and Review, thanks!

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Burning For You

Danielle POV

As I'd hoped, the exercise brought on the endorphin rush and helped get rid of the excess negativity from the meeting. The beach was just over a small ridge to my left, so without really knowing why, I took to that direction and scaled down the small cliff to the sand. A group of three or four people was sitting on the shore, but I ignored them and continued along the tree line.

Being careful not to twist my ankle on any buried coconuts—or visible ones—I found that everything seemed much simpler when focused on something. The long stretch of beach, already abandoned by tourists as they headed back to begin the school year, beckoned me, tempted me to just lay out on the sand and forget about everything and everybody. A breeze picked up and I smiled: I loved this place.

"Hey, Andrea!"

There goes reality, taking a dump on my parade...

Instinctively I stopped, but when I looked around, I didn't see anyone. After a moment I continued to jog, but someone stumbled out from the trees and blocked my path. It was Andrew, a clear bottle with clear, strong-smelling liquid held in his hand. His normally well-groomed hair was messy and greasy, his eyes bloodshot. All in all, he looked a royal mess, and it almost made me feel guilty for rendering him unconscious.

As he staggered closer to me, it was both instinct and my deepest desire to get away from him. "Chiquita, mi amor," he drawled, grinning stupidly. "I missed you...!"

Okay, guilt-trip over.

"You're drunk," I stated with disgust, resisting the urge to gag as his foul breath reached my nose. "Ugh, and you stink!" I tried to move past him, but he grabbed my arm and held me back.

"Aw, you're not still mad about what happened with Frances, are you?" he whined. "You know I love you, baby, and only you! We can get through this, I know we can." I glared at him.

"Don't touch me," I snapped, jerking my arm away. "Look, I don't have time for your shit, alright? Go back to doing whatever you were doing and leave me—"

"But baby—"

"Leave. Me. Alone," I said firmly, giving him a serious look. He seemed to take the hint, and when I turned away, he didn't try to hold me back.

Instead, two guys came out of the trees and held me back for him. Immediately I let out a scream and fought against them, but each had tight holds on my arms and weren't being too gentle at all. "Let me go!" I yelled, but they only laughed. I recognized them from the party and noticed that all three were wearing the same clothes they had been wearing last night.

"Why don't you stick around?" Andrew asked, grinning again. I lunged at him, not caring that it sent a painful shock through my shoulders. He burst into laughter at my cry of pain, so when that didn't work, I pulled my head back and spat in his face.

He seemed to jolt in shock, but I was waiting for that opening. In a swift motion I shook away from one of the guys and kneed the other in the groin, silently sending him to the floor. As if on cue by a gunshot I bolted past Andrew and back to where I'd seen that group of people lounging around the sand dunes. They looked up as I approached, but before I could feel any sort of relief that I may have found help, there was the stomach-dropping moment as I caught the looks in their eyes and unwillingly felt the waves of hatred rolling off of them.

Several confusing emotions came to me, all horrible, but thankfully from a more third-person perspective than the ones from last night. I staggered back, confused by everything swimming through my head and fogging my vision, until I was able to put them together and figure out the source.

They'd been abused by a mutant. It was unclear just who, but the extent of the damage was deep, and though I hurt for them, I knew it wasn't safe for me to be there with my eyes glowing as they were. It wasn't as if I felt the difference when they changed, but the change from their previously harmless presences to a suddenly sadistic hunger said it all.

I stopped as they got to their feet, and when I looked back, Andrew and his near-alcoholic friend were running in my direction. Looking towards the ridge I'd jumped down earlier, I didn't have time to calculate if I'd be able to climb up before they reached me.

"Get her, quick!"

My hands easily found holdings in the rocks and I lodged my foot against a thick root, but just as I'd rested my hands on the grassy surface of the top, somebody grabbed my ankle and jerked it hard. The sharp rocks grated against my face and arms as I was pulled down, shouts and laughter only magnifying the pain as I reached the sand again and collapsed on my back. Before I could recover, a man pulled me up by my shoulders and held me in a tight arm lock. I hissed as coarse fabric rubbed along the raw skin on my arms.

"Don't let her see!"

A handful of wet sand hit my face, and instinctively I refused to open my eyes or mouth. Despite the pain in my neck, I lowered my head to drop some of the sand from my face, only to have another fistful thrown at me.

And another.

And another.

"What the hell are you doing to her?" I heard Andrew exclaim.

"Get lost," the girl who'd spoken ordered, and before he could object, something thudded into him and shut him up. The sound of his friend running away came immediately after.

I turned my head towards my shoulder to breathe and somebody gripped my chin, forcing me to turn straight. Acrylic nails poked into the scrapes along my jaw line, making me wince. "Not as easy to fight without those glowing eyes of yours, huh? Come on, give me your best shot," the girl egged. I couldn't tell who she was or why she was doing this, but even if I couldn't see her, I could sense that she had no intention of letting me leave unscarred... or leave at all, for that matter. "Your kind just can't resist using their powers on us, so come on!"

"Use your powers," the man holding me hissed maliciously. He wanted me to hurt because he was attached to Frances and blamed me for her misfortune. Judging by the size of his arms, I figured him to be her older brother. "You didn't hesitate to use them on Frances, did you?" Yeah, he was definitely her brother.

And what the hell good's knowing that gonna do?

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said quietly, not wanting to raise my voice in fear that I'd start to scream. "Just let me go."

She barked a laugh. "I'm soooo scared, the little mutant princess is holding back!" After they shared a laugh, she stuffed another handful of wet sand in my face. "Alright, you hold her legs. Let's see just how much she can really take."

Somebody grabbed my ankles and lodged them to their waist, leaving me suspended in the air and making the man holding my arms increase his strength. I gasped, but still couldn't open my eyes because of the sand caked into my eyelids. Something cut at my shirt and the girl ripped it away, leaving me in nothing but shorts and a sports bra. I yelled in protest until the sharp tip of her knife brushed my stomach, warning me to stay still.

Panic welled in my chest as I began to hyperventilate. Tears pricked behind the eyes I couldn't open and it dawned on me how defenseless I was: this was how they had felt. The all-too familiar sound of a lighter clicking to life reached my ears, making it impossible to hold back the screams.

The heat of the flame licked my side and lower back as she brushed it back and forth, moving it slowly as my skin burned with indescribable agony: such a tiny force, and yet so powerful. I writhed in pain and thrashed against them, but it was no use: I couldn't get away, and the sadism rolling off of them only made me want to rip their eyes out. Suddenly she pulled back, and just as I thought I'd been saved, the heat of the lighter approached my face, and something snapped.

Without thinking, I touched the lighter without my hands.

The lighter clicked and exploded, sending bits of burning plastic and metal propelling in all directions. The ones holding me cried out and dropped me to the sand, knocking the wind out of my chest. My skin to sizzled against the sun-heated ground and little points of pain stung where shards had caught me in the crossfire, but I was free. I coughed, gasping for breath and wiping the sand away from my eyes to get a hold on my surroundings.

A red stream of light collided with the ground next to me, sending Frances's brother scrambling away. It promptly vanished and shot out to block some skinny guy with singed hair, his eyes widening in horror at something on top of the ridge.

"Crazy mutants!" he yelled, and took off after his companion. I blinked the sand away just as several pairs of feet thudded next to me.

The short man, Mr. Logan, helped me get to my knees as Scott and Jean bombarded me with questions.

"Danielle, are you okay?"

"What happened?"

"Who were those people?"

"Can you understand me?"

When I didn't answer anything and couldn't stand, Mr. Logan lifted me up and jumped to the top of the ridge with a grunt. "Let's just get her to the Professor," he said, his voice gruff. Through everything that was happening, I somehow managed to sense the anger he was just barely able to contain, the animal that longed to go back and even the score. Without much thought, I lightly laid my fingers on his chest and closed my eyes.

"Thanks, Mr. Logan..."