I remember only the darkness in my soul. I remember hearing voices pleading with me to wake up, not to leave. I refused them all, except for one. His words brought me back, reminded me of what little sanity that I had held onto and locked away deep within me. I gave into his pleadings and cajoling, and began to recover.

Then the dreams started.

When I first woke up completely from my half-awake dream, I saw David standing in front of me, crying. I reached out a hand to him, and with a split-second mood change, he sliced at my fingers. I looked at the blood, then back at him, and he grinned. I sucked in air to scream, and found arms around me, and the voice that had brought me back from death.

I couldn't see a thing, and realized that I was frantically dry-washing my hands, wiping the dream blood away. The arms withdrew, and hands folding around mine, slowing my frantic movements. I turned towards where I knew the person was, but before I could speak, the voice did. "Shhh. You're safe now. David can't hurt you. Go back to sleep." I mumbled, "Not scared of David. Got to protect him. Can't leave him now..." My words trailed off, and the voice murmured reassurances as I fell asleep.

When I awoke again, I could feel the warmth of sunlight on my arm. I rolled over, trying to go back to sleep. I heard a door open, and turned back to see who it was. But, as hard as I tried, I couldn't open my eyes. I lifted a hand, and found cloth wrapped around my head. Faintly remembering how much my eyes had hurt as I fell, it made sense to me, somehow.

Someone reached out and pulled my hands away from my face, chiding, "Don't touch. You'll mess up all of my careful work, and you're in bad enough shape as it is." I obediently desisted, and identified the voice as male as he continued speaking. "Found you out in the alley, near bled to death, so we couldn't just leave you there. You didn't have a death wish, right?"

I could hear the smile in his voice, and tried to smile in return. "No, no death wish."

"Wonderful! I'm Michaellane Ashlar, call me Ash. What about you?" I was silent for a moment, pondering. I didn't know yet if these people were friendly to mutants, so Mama Aqua and Ari Lovella were out, seeing as I already had a reputation for those two, and since I refused to let anyone but David call me Hannah, I devised a compromise. "Call me ... Anna."

"Glad to meet you. Hungry?" He provided me with a bowl of something steaming, and deliciously hot. I found myself ravenous after rubbing shoulders with death. As I ate, Ash told me about where I was. I was inside a community of tightly-knit families, and Ash had been forced into some very delicate diplomacy in order to secure me a place here until I recovered.

I asked him a few questions about the people and was assured that they were good at heart, just edgy around newcomers. I did get around to asking him where we were, but he fended off that question so skillfully it took me a moment to realize it. But, by that time, I was too tired to push the issue.

Ash lifted the bowl and spoon out of my hands, a tacit command to rest in his movements. I fell back gratefully, before remembering my dream. I shot straight up, but Ash seemed to have already guessed my fears. "Go to sleep. Nothing can happen to you here. David will never hurt you again, I promise you that. We'll take care of it."

"Don't you dare touch him or I will kill you." I shocked Ash and myself with the vehemence I heard in my voice. I apologized to Ash explaining, "David is my brother, the only family I have left. He's not the one that concerns me." He nodded, respecting my decisions, and I settled back into a deep, and blissfully dreamless sleep.

Q

The next few days passed easily. I finally figured out that I was in a room set off to the side of a main living area. Ash and I talked often, usually to distract me from my fixation on Jessica's death. He knew that something had happened to me, but fortunately, during my dreams, and the ranting which accompanied them, the only person I had mentioned was David. He tried many times to get me to tell him what had happened, but each time I refused, telling him only that someone had died, and it still hurt too much to recount.

I pushed away and ignored my shrieking conscience which demanded that I inform someone, anyone of my whereabouts. I rationalized that I did not know where I was and that Ash either wouldn't or couldn't tell me, and it subsided slightly.

I was resting, trying to assess the extent of my injuries, when I heard the door open, and someone entered the next room. I heard low voices, (one of which I recognized as Ash, and the other I could only tell that it was male), discussing something with intense concentration. As they spoke, their voices rose, and I politely pretended not to hear until their other man said something about "Anna."

I listened even closer as their voices rose. "She can't stay here, Ash. If she realizes ... we'll be forced to keep her here, or silence her." Ash sharply rebuked this idea, and they moved away from the doorway. I kept up a pretense of sleep, hoping they would come back closer.

My patience was rewarded as I heard Ash say, "She's not a danger to us. Even if she were to figure out what we are, she wouldn't betray us. I highly doubt that she would run to those X-Men."

He spoke the last words fairly loudly, and with bitter anger like I had never heard. My heart turned to ice. We were neither of us human, but just from that tone of voice, he would hate me because I was one of the X-Men.

I shifted slightly, as the other man pulled Ash back from the door, berating him for talking too loud. He whispered one last command, and stalked out the door, nearly slamming it off the hinges. I heard Ash sigh angrily, and enter the room.

I shifted again, and stretched as though I were just waking up. He walked towards me, saying, "Awake now? I've been waiting. I have a surprise for you." I put aside my questions and fears to hear what he had to say.

He stood back from me slightly and said, "Two things: Number one, you can remove the bandages on your eyes today." As I became excited, I heard him smile as he said, "And number two... "

I felt a warm lump dropped into my lap. It uncurled slightly. I reached out a hand to it, and had it throughly licked, before the puppy crawled up my chest and barked in my ear, settling behind my neck like a living pillow.

Ash laughed, and pulled the puppy out of the way, placing it back in my lap. "She's yours. What will you name her?" I stared at where I knew he was standing, unable to believe he would give me a dog. "Are you sure she's mine?"

I heard the laughter in his voice dim, then return as he said, "She's yours. Name her, and I'll tell you the rest." He waited, and I came to a decision. "Her name is ... Aisa."

"Perfect," and I smiled to hear the joy in his voice. But then, he faltered. I set Aisa to the side, and gestured for him to sit and tell me what was wrong. He dragged a chair to the side of the bed, and in silence, unwrapped my eyes.

As the last strip fell away, I opened my eyes, eager to finally see where I was. The room was dark. I asked Ash, "Why are we sitting in the dark? Is it night?" He sighed once, and I felt a chill, suddenly realizing. "I'm blind, aren't I?"

He replied with complete equanimity, "Yes. We have had our best check your eyes, and as far as they can tell, it's permanent. We're not even sure what happened. Our best guess is that when you passed out from blood loss, you contracted an infection that killed the nerves in your eyes."

I nodded, and Ash wrapped his arms around me, giving me a solid comfort which I returned to the best of my ability. We sat motionless, for I don't know how long, until I felt something wet in the top of my head. I looked up, and a single tear hit my face. I reached up a corner of the blanket, and wiped away the next one. Ash blinked and looked down at me, as though he had just realized he was crying.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault. If I had stayed with my medical studies longer ..."

I shook my head. "You wouldn't be here if you had. And you can't blame yourself for what you can't control. I have lost worse than my sight in the past weeks. I lost a child who was as dear to me as a daughter. Her name was Jessica Warren, and when I find the man responsible, I will kill him."

He was about to ask me who killed her, but I refused to let him, knowing that if he asked me, the whole story would come out, and I would no longer be his patient, but a member of the X-Men. It could wait for another time. He took the hint, and we sat silent, together.