Disclaimer: I don't own the x-men. I do own Liandra Smith, Dimitria Brachares, Cassiopeia Michaels, Samara Brache, Aymee Marsh, Sean Black, Anya West and Markus Grant. That's all so far I think. I use too many OC's.

Here it is. A lot later than I thought. I want to tell you all that I won't be updating for about a month, because my grandparents are flying in from the US and occupying my room. This means my computer is sort of off limits for that time, and they're staying here for three weeks.

That said, I still love reviews and might get the strength to write a chapter on another computer if I get enough feedback. Everyone loves feedback and encouragement. Like my boss telling me to keep up the good work, since I'm so nice to all the customers. That made me smile more and work faster. Feedback!

I'm considering saying that I won't even think about updating until I have at least five reviews for this chapter. I got a lot of comments on the first, telling me to keep on, and then barely anything for the second. Thanks to my lovely follower Twilight L. Xari, who always brightens my day, and whose comments I go back to read every now and then to get encouraged to write. Cookies to you!

...and a new chapter.

Xavier called on a woman named Ororo Munroe, a colored lady with blue eyes and white hair and fine, near royal features. She was very beautiful, Liandra supposed. Miss Munroe led Liandra up a few stairs, toward what would be her room.

"You're going to be sharing, though," Miss Munroe said, "Almost everyone shares a room with another student. Cassy has been alone in her room for a few months now. Cassy is really sweet, I'm sure you two will get along just fine."

Liandra groaned inside at the way Munroe was talking to her. "I really don't expect to stay that long," she muttered, biting her lip so she wouldn't be rude. These people were dangerous, after all, and she wasn't stupid. "And you don't have to talk to me like I'm a kid! I'm nineteen, actually." The actually was stupid, she felt after she said it. Damn.

Munroe fell silent the rest of the stairs. When they were up, Liandra wondered why she was having a roommate in the first place. It was stupid; she wasn't going to bond with this girl or anything like that. Everyone here was mutant scum and she was only here because there was worse mutant scum after her. Or so they claimed. Now that she thought about it, instead of being blinded by a cute male, how could she trust that these people were the 'good guys'?

Then again, so far this group hadn't tried to flame her. But they had kidnapped her and now they were keeping her here. Although she couldn't claim it was against her will, she could probably leave anytime. They had only wanted to make sure she knew the circumstances first. And Munroe didn't mean any bad, she was just unsure how to treat Liandra.

Damn these powers, they seemed to thrive in this house.

They reached a door, and Miss Munroe knocked gently. There was a lot of rustling, someone said "Damn, where's my shirt?" and it took some time before someone opened the door.

In that time, Liandra decided to see exactly how much of this she could do. There was more than one person in there, and one was a girl, that much was obvious. The one who had spoken was a guy, he had brown, wavy hair, fairly long, and brown-green eyes. He was fairly tall, strong, toned body, sharp, broad features. Thin lips and an adorable smile, in fact the most adorable smile in the world, can't believe how those back muscles look…

She must have been tapping in to the girls' thoughts. The girl, Cassy, fairly short, short dark hair, slightly more athletic body than the average, brown eyes and a round face. The guy was her boyfriend Markus. Markus was wearing a dark green sweater and dark jeans, Cassy a white tank top and a dark red cardigan and black jeans.

The door opened, a girl with short, black hair, except for two strands in the front which reached below her jaw line. Her hazel eyes were curious, but shy, and her soft cheeks had a tinge of pink to them. She was wearing exactly what Liandra had thought, and glancing in to the room she saw that the boy looked as she had envisioned him.

"Hi!" the girl said shyly, the guy coming to the door as well. "I'm Cassy, this is Mark, my boyfriend." She blushed a little and flattened her hair, which was standing up quite a lot. The guy smiled and stuck out his hand. "Mark, like she said. You the new girl? There's been some talking about you." When Liandra didn't say anything, or shake his hand, he pulled it back slightly awkwardly. "Well, I guess we'll be seeing each other a bit, since you'll be sharing with Cass and we're like- yeah."

Liandra stared unblinkingly at him, and it was creeping him out. But she was only trying to block out the thoughts she was hearing, and it required concentration. Markus kissed Cassy on the forehead and went passed Liandra and Miss Munroe. Miss Munroe smiled at Cassy and turned to Liandra. "Now, I trust you can take care of yourself from here. It's late now, but tomorrow we can go to your apartment so you can get some clothes and other items you might need. As long as someone accompanies you, there shouldn't be too much trouble. I'll see you tomorrow, Liandra."

With that, she turned and walked away, leaving Liandra and Cassy alone. Cassy smiled and walked in to the room, sitting down on her bed. Her bed was unmade, the covers half on the floor and the pillows messed up, the effects of an hour-long make out session. Liandra closed the door and stood by it, looking carefully at the shy girl. She pushed back the locks of hair in the front, and twirled the hair between her fingers.

"So, what's your name?" she asked after a while. Her voice was soft and quiet; it didn't take up much space. Cassy didn't take up much space. Liandra glanced down at the floor, then moved over to the other bed, the one by the window. "Liandra Smith," she said after a while. There was no softness in Liandra's voice.

"I'm Cassy Michaels. I've been here like, two years. But I go home during the holidays and stuff. That is, my parents don't know that I'm, well, yeah." Liandra saw her yanking lightly in the longer hair. There was an uncomfortable silence. Normally, Liandra wouldn't have minded, except she sensed the discomfort from Cassy.

Cassy shifted positions in the bed, sitting on her knees. "We share a bathroom with a couple of girls next door, so there are two doors to lock, whenever you use it. We share it with Sam, Aymee and Rogue, they have the room on the other side." Liandra looked out the window, stared at the dark sky outside. It wasn't that late, but it was that time of the year. Liandra loved wintertime, as well as autumn, everything was so beautiful then. And there was nothing so beautiful as untouched stillness of snow.

The younger girl noticed her lack of interest and fell quiet. Several minutes passed, while Liandra just stared out the window, and she could feel Cassy looking at her, before she went over to the bureau and folded clothes from a pile on the floor.

Then the door opened. Liandra glanced over and saw a group of girls come in, talking loudly. Moments later, Cassy was trapped onto the bed by a girl with waist-length brown hair, and she was quickly joined by a young woman with dark green hair and intense sea-green eyes.

The most difficult part of opening the door is closing it up again, Liandra thought, but now she didn't read into the other girls. One more girl stood in the doorway, smiling slightly. She had long, brown hair, but with two white streaks in the front. Intriguing, Liandra thought, but realized herself that it probably was some part of the girl's mutation. While the other girls completely ignored Liandra, or simply didn't notice, the girl in the doorway smiled at her.

"Hullo," she said, and walked over to the other wall, closer to Liandra's bed. "Mah name's Rogue." She had a strong, southern drawl. "People, stop this and say hi instead!" she slapped the brunette in the back of the head, and she fell off the bed. "Ouch! Rogue! That was mean!" she looked up and saw Liandra looking at her. "Oh, hey," she grumbled something and glared at Rogue. "I'm Sam."

Sam was wearing a pair of baggy jeans and a loose, purple tee. Her hair reached down to her waist, and she was right now tying it up in a messy bun. Her eyes were olive colored, warm and happy, and her smile was very pretty. Sam grabbed hold of the green-haired girl, who raised her eyebrows, holding Cassy's head in her armpit. "Hey," she said, smirking. "Name's Aymee."

Aymee's hair was cut in a side cut, the color a sort of moss green. Her face was thin, and she was tall and spindly. Her arms were slightly too long for her body, and she was rather thin, and definitely the tallest of all of them. Cassy was the shortest, but the shortness suited her. Aymee was wearing a Nine Inch Nails shirt and dark jeans.

She stood up, seizing Liandra, then she crossed her arms. "I'm a goth, I'm bisexual, and I have a girlfriend, so if you have a problem, you can shut the fuck up or leave, 'cause I can't stand for what damage my fist might do to your face." There was a prominent British accent in her speech. Liandra shrugged. "What do I care about what you do in bed?"

Aymee laughed. "You know, I might just like you a bit. But don' worry, you ain't my type. I go for girl's like, well, Cass. But don't you tell Jess that, she might be worried." Cassy blushed and mumbled something, and Aymee laughed again. "See what I mean? So cute, it's irresistible."

"I'm Liandra."

"Calling Annie!" Sam yelled out, startling Liandra. "Don't worry," Cassy said, her cheeks still slightly pink. "Sam's a bit random. You should see her, as soon as anyone tries to call her Sama-AAAH!" Cassy couldn't get much further because she was attacked by Sam, who jumped on top of her with a pillow and began beating. "Never- ever- ever- call- me- that!" she said between hits. Cassy shrieked and giggled in a lively mixture. Sam calmed down after a while, her long hair everywhere, and grinned. "What if I called you Cassio-" the rest of the name was muffled out by Cassy putting a pillow over Sam's mouth.

Aymee grinned, grabbed a pillow and screamed, "PILLOW FIGHT!" throwing one at Rogue, who instantly joined. Liandra escaped out on the balcony, which she'd just noticed.

On the court outside, she saw two guys playing ball. One was Markus, whom she'd met earlier, and the other an athletic-looking guy with brown hair. They were talking at the same time, but Liandra shut off what they were saying and looked over the grounds. There were large woods all around, and she wondered how much was counted to this place.

It would be ok, being here, she thought as she heard Cassy shrieking again. At least for a little while, it wouldn't be so bad.

Cassiopeia Michaels was born to a pair of hard-working patriots. Charlie and Monica Michaels both worked a lot, throughout Cassy's entire childhood. When she was little there were neighbors who would check in on her after school, because her parents worked until the evening. When she was ten, those neighbors didn't come around anymore, because Cassy was a big girl.

In school, Cassy had always been incredibly shy. Talking in front of the class was impossible, because her tongue would swell in her mouth and she couldn't talk at all. No one paid any sort of attention to her.

Until she began partying with a friend's older brother. Cassy was thirteen. She quickly got in to alcohol and boys, because she was so cute, and so willing. She did anything for these boys, because they saw her, they noticed her. They told her how nice she looked, how cute she was.

Cassy got pregnant and had an abortion. Then, suddenly, everyone knew who she was. In school they whispered about her, called her murderer and whore in ever other sentence. Cassy stopped going to parties, and almost stopped going to school at all. It just wasn't worth it, and she did nothing but wish again for the time when she had been just a nobody.

She began cutting herself. One day when she was bandaging her arm, she suddenly couldn't see it at all. It had melted in to the background. It happened several more times before she realized she was a mutant. She took the initiative to search on the internet, and found the Xavier Institute. After convincing her parents to send her there, saying it was just a boarding school, she finally found what could be seen as a home.

It didn't take long before her and Samara, who had already been there half a year, to become friends. Sam broke through Cassy's shields, and they became very close. Sam helped build up Cassy's confidence quite a lot.

Cassy met Markus in class. He came there after her, and he persisted long enough for them to become friends. That they became a couple seemed purely accidental, because they were fooling around once and it turned into a kiss.

Only a month before Liandra's arrival did they actually become a couple. Cassy is still frightened of what might happen if she would trust Markus too much.

Breakfast. The mere thought scared Liandra. Food in a large room filled with mutants.

She actually tried correcting herself whenever she thought of them as freaks or anything else. The other girls had been up for several hours, talking and being friendly with her. Liandra hadn't participated much, but she had listened. And these girls were perfectly normal. She wasn't sure what else she had expected, but she was surprised at how quickly her thoughts were changing.

Liandra had stayed awake late, stared out the window at the stars and still expecting a phone to ring. Around five she had slumbered and half-slept, dreamt about the sky crashing down on her and jerked awake at half past six. Cassy stirred about ten minutes later and zombie-walked into the shower at quarter to seven, her hair standing on all ends.

She had made her bed when Cassy came out again, awake. Then she had waited for Cassy to get dressed and they had gone together to breakfast.

Cassy didn't say much, except for here's that room and there's this room. Then they came to the kitchen.

It was filled with people. Liandra saw Markus, and the guy he'd been playing ball with the previous night, sitting with a guy with white hair. Aymee was on her way to join them, but was intercepted by a brunette with a high ponytail and pushed to a table where Rogue was sitting, together with an Asian girl.

At another table, Liandra saw the man from the previous day who had peeked in to the office. He was sitting with Logan and another man who was wearing sunglasses.

On the counter were waffles and stuff to make sandwiches, cereal, and a large bowl of fruit. Not really much of a morning eater, Liandra took an apple and waited for Cassy to get what she wanted, and followed the younger girl to the table where Aymee and Rogue were sitting.

"Hey there," the girls Liandra didn't recognize said. "I'm Kitty," the brunette said, smiling widely. "And I'm Jubilee." The Asian girl said. "Liandra," she replied, and they returned to their conversation.

About half an hour later, Liandra noticed Sam jumping in, pulling on a sock. Liandra watched her as she took a plate and put a lot of food on it. She didn't seem to care exactly what she put on the plate.

Kitty giggled as she saw what Liandra was looking at. "Yeah, that's Sam for ya. Always hungry and always late." Cassy laughed at this, and they started talking about something else. Liandra wasn't interested. She watched Sam try and balance two plates and a glass of juice. Sam wasn't the most elegant of people either. She sort of half-stumbled and was about to fall, when a tall, broad young man caught her with one arm and one of the plates with the other.

"Careful, Sam," he said, his voice strongly accentuated. His hair was black and his skin a bit pale. He was Russian, no doubt. "Ask for help instead." Sam blushed deep, deep crimson, and mumbled something Liandra couldn't hear. The guy chuckled and helped her where they all were sitting. "More careful next time!" he said and left.

Sam sat down, still red as a tomato. The girls laughed and giggled in unison, and Sam looked so that the guy had really disappeared before burying her face in the table. Rogue turned to Liandra to explain. "That's Peter. Sam has the hugest crush on him; she'll just die before she admits it."

"Not true!" Sam exclaimed, looking up, still pink. "Just- just- shut up!"

"He likes her too," Cassy whispered to Liandra. "We notice. But Sam won't listen to us, because she doesn't have a crush on Pete. Not at all." She rolled her eyes and grinned. Then she smiled wider as Markus came over to them.

"Hey beautiful," he said and leaned down to kiss her cheek. Cassy blushed and giggled. "Hey Mark. How's it?"

"Oh, you know," he smiled. "We have classes soon though. Don't be late. I gotta go up, Bobby stole my notebook. See ya later, Cas." They kissed and the girls awed, except for Aymee who slammed her fist in the table. "Befouling my girl! Off! Off!" Markus just laughed and walked away. "Just teasin', Cas," she said and stood up, ruffling the younger girl's hair. "See y'all in class then."

The rain fell heavily around her, and if she had been standing in it she would have been drenched in a matter of minutes. Luckily, Dimitria was standing under a metallic roof. She studied the glow of her cigarette and took a deep drag, just listening to the heavy sound of thousands upon thousands of water drops crashing on to the concrete. She wondered how it felt to crash and shatter.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and threw the finished cigarette out in the rain. A package appeared before her eyes, and she took another one, lighting it with a spark from her fingers.

"What'cha be doin' out here, cherie?" Gambit's silky smooth voice said from behind her. "'Cept smokin' dat be." Dimitria closed her eyes and took a few drags.

"Thinking." She said after a while.

Gambit smirked. "You tink too much, mon ami. Makes you weird in de head. You should tink less, feel more." Dimitria rolled her eyes and smirked. "Because we all know what head you think with, Gambit."

"Ouch, cherie. Ouch. And I be givin' you smokes an' all." He clicked his tongue and shook his head at her, but smiled. "Maybe I should be sendin' you to Shadow instead, huh? Or p'raps Pyro?"

Dimitria shivered. "Not the lap dog. That kid is pathetic."

They finished their cigarettes in silence, and Dimitria threw hers out in the rain. Gambit put it out on the concrete and put it in the box Shadow had designated for such a purpose. Dimitria rolled her eyes, but flashed a quick smile as they went inside.

Mitri returned to her room and found a box of light bulbs standing on her desk. She waved good bye to Gambit and sat down by the box, took one out and overcharged it. The fusing blew up with a pleasant pop. This was Dimitria's entertainment; there really wasn't much to do around this place.

She began thinking. What else was there to do?

This plan, if it worked properly, or if it failed, it would most likely take her life. It would most likely kill everyone inside the machine. What was she dying for?

When Dimitria was young, she had lived in Russia. Her family was strictly catholic, and she grew up in a small town where they all knew each other. Her brother had been four years older than her, and studying to become a priest. He had found her one day, when she was playing with her powers, not long after she had discovered them. Dimitri had smiled at her, tousled her long hair and told her, "God has a plan for all of us."

Only weeks after that, her entire family was killed because the villagers had found out about her. They thought she was evil and must be destroyed. They burnt down the house, and she could still hear the screams sometimes at night. But she had been out that night, and she ran away from there. Worked at various places to get enough money to escape from Russia and decide to start a new life in America.

She lived off of the words her brother had told her. That God really did work in mysterious ways. That He had some great plan with all of this.

When she was 21 she finally came to America. But it was almost harder to get by in the Land of Opportunities than in her home country. She got a green card, and got a job at a gas station. She was accustomed to hard work, so it was very easy for her to just arrive and stand behind a register all day.

Six months ago, she had met Gambit and a girl called Breeze. They were on their way somewhere, and Gambit had tried flirting with her. After not so long, he'd figured she was a mutant, and she figured quickly that Gambit was one. A month later, Gambit contacted her and asked her if she wanted to join a group called the Brotherhood.

She had accepted. And now, here she was, reading her own funeral papers over and over. What a life.

What a life.