Logan

Logan could smell the aptly named death ward long before they got there. They had to get these kids help and fast.
After what seemed like an eternity, they finally reached the infamous ward.
"Now these kids aren't used to seeing people, especially unfamiliar ones, so please do not be alarmed if they appear to be frightened. It's not you, it's the people they lived with before they got here." To Logan it looked like Artemis was all too used to giving this speech.
"Now any questions? No? Good." Logan was beginning to really like this kid.
For a school that ran entirely on the charity, for lack of a better word, of the citizens of New York City, it actually had a pretty good infirmary. Then again there was no promising that what little they had wasn't stolen.

Artemis

No matter how many times she told herself she wouldn't cry when she came in here, she always did, without fail.
As she walked among the rows of cots she couldn't help but feel like the villain, here she was healthy and happy and here they were dying and there was nothing she could do about it.
Choking back her tears, she turned to her unexpected guests and somehow managed to say,
"Welcome to the death ward."
The silence from the two friends was profound, even Mr. Macho was starting to get teary-eyed.
"Mister," a weak voice Artemis knew all too well, for it was her own son, said, looking at Logan, "are ya gonna help us?"
It was way too much for her to bear. She quietly excused herself and went out in the hallway where she sobbed till she had no more tears to shed.

Four years earlier

Artemis had never really expected to come home, but between the stress of running a school and keeping all of her students and staff fed, she needed the vacation; which was how she had ended up where she was: her mother's doorstep.
"Hello mom," Artemis said, making sure to suppress the English accent she had picked up during her time in the UK.
"Artemis?" Her mother asked incredulously - after all she hadn't seen her daughter in six years.
"It's me, I promise." Artemis barely had any time to brace herself for her mother's bear hug. She buried her face in her mother's hair and breathed in the smell of home.
When she got in the house, she realised that the only thing that had changed was herself. This scared Artemis to death but it comforted her as well - how prophetic that fear would turn out to be.
"I left your room just as it was when you ran away," her mother said. She sounded like she had missed the daughter she never seemed to have noticed before.
"I can see that," Artemis said as she paced her old room, running a finger along each surface, an almost OCD habit she had picked up during her travels.
"Are you going to be staying?" Artemis looked into her mother's pleading eyes and reluctantly nodded.

"So the prodigal daughter finally returned?" How she hated her step-father's sneering voice. She also hated how loud his thoughts were - this was one of the few times in her life when she wished she was "normal".
"Yep," she said pushing the cooked broccoli to one side, not really focusing on anything.
"Hey sis!" She nearly jumped out of her seat at the sound of her step-brother's voice - he knew what she was and she knew he would exploit that knowledge any way he knew how.
"Hello Judas". She was terrified, so terrified she forgot to use her powers to suggest she looked normal. Her mutation was now on full display for the entire family to see.
"YOU'RE A MUTIE?" Her step-father bellowed, turning to his poor wife who just wasn't fast enough, and picked her up by the throat. "YOU GAVE BIRTH TO A MUTIE, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF-"

The rest was drown out by Artemis's screams at the sound of her mother hitting the wall.
Artemis ran to her mother like the child she still was and tried to revive her but to no avail; she was dead, her neck had broken on impact.
"YOU MURDERER!" she cried, "YOU MURDERER!"
She held her mother's fragile body to her own as if she believed that by holding onto her she could somehow bring her back.
"Mummy don't leave me," she said through the tears that were falling on her mother's body like rain, "don't leave me."
As the murderer came closer, she let loose a feral hiss that even scared her - she would not allow her mother to be defiled by this monster again. So she used her curse. It was the only time she had ever actually killed. She left the house her step brother unharmed, this time he had done no wrong.

Judas

Judas had looked everywhere for the little freak but couldn't find her. He did feel something; whether it could be called pity or not was dependent on who interpreted the ramblings of his depraved mind. Just when he was about to give up, he finally found her, going into an old abandoned factory alone.
"Perfect," he said to himself quietly. The look on his face that of a man who had long since gone over the edge.
It didn't take him long to catch up to his unsuspecting prey, she never had a chance.

-
Artemis came out of the stall with the weight of the world on her shoulders. The pregnancy test had come back positive.