Notes: Luna is adapted from the 2099 comics universe. La Lunatica is an often overlooked character (imo), but I'm crazy about her. I think her ability to feed off of traumatic memory makes for great hurt!comfort plots. I've always wanted to write about her as a teenager in the Evo-verse, so this is my first shot at that.

N.B. Perspective will switch between major characters from time to time, but will always be indicated in the chapter title. Thanks for reading!

Luna rolled up her shirt with a wince, but all she saw in the mirror was smooth brown skin from the hem of her tank top to the black denim. She pressed two buttons on the image inducer. The hologram flickered off and the bruise bloomed on her ribcage, a mottled purple spreading over her torso. She was hit in the chest with a plank of metal that unfolded out of the wall. It was her first danger room session.

Charles Xavier gave the holowatch to her three weeks ago to make it easier for her to travel from California to New York. She stared hard at herself: white hair, white skin, red eyes. She woke up one day and she looked like this. People stared.

La Lunatica. Mama called her that after what Luna had done to their neighbor. It reminded her of the most important thing: they were afraid of her. She had powers and they didn't. And her powers made them face the worst parts of themselves. With one touch, Luna could trigger vivid and painful memories, the ones people tried to bury and forget. She made them relive it – the trauma - and she fed on that energy.

She wasn't sorry either.

She undid the buckle of her holowatch and put it on the bookshelf above her desk.

The door opened behind her, and Luna dropped her shirt. She turned to face her new roommate, Alison Blaire. Blaire had a towel wrapped around her head, and she huffed petulantly, "So… that was the worst."

Luna said nothing. She sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Did they really have to put me through that?" Alison had complained already that she shouldn't have to 'do this' because one, she was here temporarily and two, she did Pilates. She was even more outraged when she had to wear the uniform. It was navy blue jumpsuit with a gold belt engraved and painted with a big 'X' on the buckle. "Running around like some kind of…"

"X-Man?" Luna said dryly.

"Right," Alison agreed emphatically, unraveling the towel from her hair and throwing it on the bed, "But I'm not an X-Man. I already have a career," or the start of one, she said, "I could have been on TV. They could have put me, me, on the six o'clock news yesterday. You can't buy that kind of exposure."

"The X-Men have exposure." Luna remembered seeing them on the news two years ago, and she was in L.A. She didn't know why she was bothering to argue with Blaire, not that she was listening. She was still talking as if Luna hadn't even opened her mouth.

"And it's not that I'm not grateful that they stepped in and scared off those jokers, they'd make a great security team. But…" Alison gave one look around the room, from her piles of matching designer luggage at the foot of the bed (which her father paid to have brought over) to the window that looked out over the front lawn. "Ensembles aren't my thing."

"That is tough, Alison." Her voice was flat.

"Ali," the blonde corrected blithely, "I know," 'Ali' added, "But I've been trying to think about it like this: if things had gone according to plan, Bruce's band would have played right after me. I was the opening act. But the way things turned out, I was the only act."

Luna got up and left. If she didn't leave, she'd do something she probably wouldn't regret.

She went downstairs to get a glass of water (and avoid her 'this-isn't-an-act-no-I'm-really-this-annoying' roommate) and she saw a tanned brunette – not Kitty - in the kitchen, sitting at the breakfast table. She didn't look up from her plate of tater tots when Luna entered the room, or when she opened three different cabinets. Fourth time was the charm. Luna found a coffee mug and filled it up in the sink.

The brunette only glanced at her when she didn't leave.

"I'm Luna," she said, leaning against the kitchen island and cupping her mug between both hands.

"I know." She speared another chunk of fried potato with her fork, and ate it. "You are a new recruit."

"And you are…?"

"Laura." Laura looked about her age but Luna didn't see her at dinner last night, where she met the rest of her 'teammates'. The two girls didn't exchange another word until Kitty Pryde walked through the wall.

"Laura, I've been looking for you," Kitty said, before spotting the 'new recruit'. "Hi Luna, finding everything okay?" She nodded. "I'm glad I ran into you, too. I have some school news: Mr. McCoy has all of your transfer paperwork, and you'll be getting a ride with Bobby and the others." Luna learned over dinner last night that Bobby, Amara, Sam and Roberto were seniors. Jamie was a sophomore, like her. The rest had graduated. Lucky them. "They'll show you around."

"Thanks." Luna did not like high school. She didn't think it would be any better here than it was in California.

"We can talk about this more at dinner." Estupendo. Just the thing to make her lose her appetite. Kitty turned her attention back to Laura. "We're going to run rescue drills in the morning. Meet by the pool at six?"

"Who will be running them?"

"Cyclops." Laura made a scoffing sound which Kitty ignored. Luna was confused – because he was one of the lead instructors. "I'll see you there?"

"Yes."

"Great. I'm going down to the Danger Room now. We should be done in an hour if you need anything."

"I won't," Laura replied bluntly.

Kitty looked at Luna instead, and she seemed to be trying very hard not to let the annoyance show. "Ororo will be with us, but Mr. McCoy is in his office." Kitty left the room and Laura stood up, carrying her empty plate to the sink.

"What's wrong with Cyclops?" she asked Laura once Kitty was out of earshot. She had the greenest eyes Luna had ever seen.

"Wrong?" Laura's brow furrowed briefly, then she replied, "He does not have my experience in the field." So she was mad she had to take orders from him.

Luna nearly laughed, but the brunette's expression stopped her. She was serious. Luna didn't like being told what to do either, but she knew she didn't have their kind of experience. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

That's what she thought. "And you have more experience than Cyclops?"

Laura narrowed her eyes. "Yes." She didn't explain herself, and Luna didn't get the chance to ask. She was startled when Laura held up a hand between them and two sharp blades sprung from her knuckles. She used the blades to skewer and lift an apple from the fruit bowl. Luna had never seen that before. She turned to stare at Laura as the other girl walked out of the room.

"Are you going to be at school tomorrow?" Luna impulsively called after her.

"I don't go to school," was the reply, and moments later the front door slammed shut.

Luna leaned her back against the kitchen island pensively. There was something about Laura that was… not like the others. She was standoffish and didn't say much and that was pretty mysterious. And she didn't have to go to school – what was that about, and how could Luna get in on it? It wasn't just her first impression. Luna had learned – since her powers manifested – that everyone had secrets. Horrible secrets. And they couldn't hide them from her. The X-Men weren't any different.