Disclaimer: Who gives a damn anyway?

Yay. Another chapter. Great. xP On another note, school starts for me on Friday so it'll probably be back to my old uploading schedule. That is, one chapter in forever. But I will try to get a chapter once a month, but I've never had a job at the same time as going to school before. No garanties for the coming month though, because I'm going to a convention in the end of September and need to work on my costume.

Yays!

At the age of Eight, Samara showed her first signs of being a mutant. Her mother caught her soaring half a foot over her bed one morning when the window had been left open. Panic had risen and Sam had sworn never to do things like that again.

Curiosity got the upper hand, and when she was twelve Sam started experimenting. It was just a bit of a laugh for her, whenever she had a few moments alone from her brothers. Sam was youngest of five, and the only daughter, but her brothers weren't shy of letting her play with them. She grew up to be tough and take her space, but she was still a bit on the quiet side because she knew that she was different.

It wasn't her curiosity that got her kicked out when she was fifteen though. It was an accident that made her father find out, despite her mother's best efforts to make excuses and cover it up. One morning when the window had been open and there had been strong winds blowing, Sam had been lifted up and floated out onto the driveway.

Her father had been furious, and her brothers disgusted. They hadn't actually thrown her out, but after two weeks Sam couldn't stand more of the looks and whispered words. She ran away, not sure where she would go but she knew somewhere in her heart that she would be all right.

She stole some money from her parents and, coupled with her own savings, used that to travel away from her home on the country side and toward the Louisiana state border, because she had always wanted to see Mardi Gras in New Orleans. She hadn't gotten very close though, when she ran into a pocket thief in a smaller town. After she'd used her powers to get her stuff back, he was impressed with her and began following her instead.

After a while, Sam simply agreed to talk to him, since he was being rather annoying. His name, he said, was Remy LeBeau, and he was on the run from his family as well. The days passed and Remy helped her a lot, getting food, finding places to sleep and whenever they got the opportunity, practicing her powers a little.

Remy changed her course, telling her about a group called the Brotherhood of Mutants, who were working for mutant rights. She agreed to travel north with him, searching for this Brotherhood which Remy had been invited to.

Time passed by and Remy taught Sam how to pickpocket and snatch things from stores. She enjoyed the company, and Remy enjoyed hers. However, when they finally found the Brotherhood it was during a smaller clash with the X-men. Sam saw Magneto and his brotherhood, unafraid of harming anyone around them, and the X-men who were protecting civilians at the risk of their own lives, while the Brotherhood were still attacking.

It was with much sadness that she parted from Remy and joined the opposite side, but she had to do what felt right. She left together with the X-men and hadn't seen Remy since.

Whenever there was a group of them around, Liandra had no problem listening to their conversation. However, when they tried to include her she felt like backing off and disappearing.

A little earlier, Liandra had been sitting alone, enjoying the sunshine and the sound of the boys on the basket ball court. Then Aymee, Sam and Cassy had come out, the former two immediately jumping on to the court and joining the guys. Cassy had hesitated for a few moments, but then walked over to Liandra and sat down next to her. They had been sitting in silence for a little, until Cassy opened her mouth.

"So, what are your powers? I mean, you saw mine yesterday, so…" Liandra frowned and looked away, pretending to stare at the court. After a little while she muttered, "Telepathy," but she didn't feel like going in on any details.

Cassy smiled, seeming thrilled over the little piece of information she'd been given. "Maybe I could tell you a little about everyone," she said in her usual, quiet voice. She pointed out to the court. "Markus, my boyfriend, has the ability to turn off others senses, his code name is Hush. He doesn't have that much control, sometimes if he tells someone to shut up he'll make them mute and stuff."

"Yeah," came a voice from behind and Kitty dumped herself next to Cassy. "He's gotten into a lot of trouble from Logan because of that. Apparently, Logan's like extra sensitive or something, or maybe Mark is just like more sensitive around Logan."

Cassy blushed and looked down, and Liandra flashed her a tense smile. The younger girl didn't seen too outspoken when there were more people. When Cassy fell silent, Kitty seemed to take it like it was her job to continue. "Otherwise, there's Bobby, his codename is Iceman, and well, he can make ice. Simple really. Usually the codenames can be related to whatever your power is. Then there are exceptions, like, I can phase through objects and my code is Shadowcat." She grinned.

"Then there's Pietro, the one with the silver hair, his code is Quicksilver and he can just run really fast. His whole body is built for it. And Pete, he can turn his body into metal and he's really strong, his code name is Colossus."

Kitty paused and smiled, and Cassy continued, albeit even more quiet than before. "Aymee, you saw yesterday, she can control water and her code's Aqua. She can't actually create water though; just draw it from the air around. Sam controls the air, and she's really strong by now, but she calls herself Breeze."

They kept on like this, telling about different students in the school, and then Kitty left and Cassy came in on teachers. Liandra's mind got pulled back and she listened more closely. "…And Mr. Summers, or Cyclops, he shoots laser beams from his eyes, but he like can't control it so he wears those glasses all the time."

He was the one who had rescued her then, when Pyro had attacked the bar.

"Then Herr Wagner," Cassy said softly with a warmth in her voice. "He's really the sweetest but he's got some bad physical mutations, but he uses an image inducer to hide it. He's not ugly or anything though, he's actually really cute." When she realized what she'd actually said, she blushed a dark pink. "Well, his code is Nightcrawler and he can teleport. He looks like…" She couldn't finish because she was distracted by something on the court. More specifically, Markus had removed his shirt because of the heat.

They sat in silence, leaving Liandra to ponder on how exactly Mr. Wagner looked. Then the game had ended and there were cheers from the court, and Sam, Aymee, Mark and Bobby came and joined them on the grass. Mark was about to pull his shirt back on, but then he saw Cassy's look and he smirked and placed the shirt behind him.

Aymee was drenched in sweat, wearing a loose tank-top and baggy jeans, and Sam was breathing harshly. "What are you guys talking 'bout then?" she asked, letting out her hair and pulling through it with her fingers.

Liandra didn't say anything and Cassy mumbled something. Sam laughed and ruffled her friend's hair, and Aymee sighed but rolled her eyes, smiling widely.

They started talking about something else and Liandra zoomed out a little. The sky was turning pink over the trees of the near-by forest, and she realized how nice it would be to go out for a run. She'd do that, tomorrow morning. It wasn't like she slept much anyway.

The sun was just rising, the light painting the sky beautiful shades of orange. The air was moving in gentle strokes and the dawning day was filled with sounds of birds chirping. No man-made noises were heard as Liandra made her way through the paths she had found.

Silence filled her mind and for the first time in days she felt relaxed. The tension she'd felt ever since the phone calls began was flowing out of her and she paused to sit down for a moment. She leaned back toward a large, majestic oak tree; looking up she could see flashes of blue in the midst of the green leaves. A squirrel ran across a low-sitting branch and jumped over to a nearby birch.

Just as she felt the most relaxed, a sudden sound made her tense up again. A twig snapped somewhere and Liandra stood up again, drying off her palms on the thighs of her sweatpants.

"Mein Gott," low and mumbled Liandra heard it and recognized it just as well. She raised an eyebrow and leaned against the oak, but didn't relax again. "Who's there?" she asked instead, even though she knew. It was polite.

There was silence for a few moments, and then he cleared his throat. Liandra wasn't terribly amused as she interrupted whatever he was beginning to say. "Have you been following me?"

Silence again for a few moments, the kind that clings to the air like a slimy, fat slug to the ground. Liandra wasn't sure what to do, so she just waited and focused on her breathing, because her chest was doing something funny. "I'm sorry, I vas just sitting out here and I heard you running," came his voice from behind a tree.

"Why are you hiding then?" she asked. "Mister Wagner?"

"Really," he said, chuckling nervously, "Call me Kurt, please." He was avoiding her, she realized and frowned. Something was wrong. Something… broken?

She sighed. "I'd really appreciate it if you'd come out here so I can see it's really you and get on with my running. Or head back to the institute, if it's inappropriate and unsafe of me to be out."

"I just- I can't, right now. It's complicated."

Liandra closed her eyes, again unsure of the response to this. She wasn't used to human contact in this way; customers were either robots or talkers, and neither wanted responses past an occasional 'mhm,' or 'that's no good.'

"Just come on out here." She gnawed at her lower lip. One day she probably would bite through. Mr. Wagner, or Kurt, sighed. "Promise not to scream?" and then he moved out of the shadow.

Liandra stifled a gasp as she saw the creature in front of her, but her eyes widened. The blue-skinned demon-like creature looked at her with yellow eyes. It's, no, his ears were pointed like an elf and his hands had only two thick-set fingers and a thumb each. He was wearing a red-and-black leather costume and she noticed a tail, flicking nervously back and forth behind him.

Despite his demonic appearance, he had a rosary around his neck. The beads were black and hung on a silver chain; the cross black as well, with a small silver Jesus on. Liandra's eyes wandered back to his face and saw his eyes full of shame and fear. Was this really what mutants felt on the inside?

An emotion she rarely felt sprung alive within her. She felt the need to say something, to comfort Kurt, because this creature was actually that the happy-go-lucky man who had tried to make friends with her the previous days, and she had most certainly enjoyed that mans company. She mustered up a smile, even though it hurt inside because she still did not like mutants.

"You're still the same person," she whispered and looked down.

No, she still didn't like mutants. But she was getting there.