Rebekah

I stare at him. He looks scared. Right now, I can smell he's just a frightened, alone human. I glance back up the corridor then sheath my claws.

"Third right, second left and straight on until you reach the bathroom. There's a window you can crawl out of."

"PANTHERA!"

Kurt and Rogue are coming. I whip back to Isaac.

"Look… Stay safe, ok?"

He blinks.

"What?"

"Don 't get arrested, killed or blow up the world, okay? You might be my ticket home."

I clap him on the shoulder and he flinches before I turn and drop onto all fours and leap down the corridor, rounding the corner to meet Rogue and Kurt.

"Are you alright sugah?"

"Yeah. There's a dozen unconscious soldiers down there. One of them wet themselves."

Kurt stares at me with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I'm not surprised."

"Why?"

"You… You don't look like a child anymore."

I turn and look at my distorted reflection in the metal wall. The face that stares back is undisputedly that of an adult. Kitty is still in many ways a child but my face is hard, a woman's, not a girl's. I turn back to Rogue and Nightcrawler.

"What am I?"

Rogue puts a gloved hand on my shoulder.

"We need to find Isaac."

"I… I found him. He… He ran before I could stop him."

The lie slips out so easily but a little more of me dies. Lying comes so easily now. So does fighting. This isn't what I wanted in my life! I wanted to be a scientist, an intellectual, not a fighter! I never asked, or wanted this. My whole attitude to life has always been, you don't try and change me; I won't try and change you. But now people want to change me, without even knowing me. Why? Why? Why are people so intolerant?

Isaac

I scuttled down the corridors and took the directions Bekah told me, expecting any moment to be grabbed and hauled back to face the X-men. As Bekah said, there was a window. I crawled through it and dropped the short distance to the ground. I was probably going to be without my powers for a while so I needed a way to get home.

My eyes alighted on the Blackbird and an evil idea started to form in my mind. I really shouldn't but there was no other way. I quickly ran towards the ramp and entered the aircraft. There were loads of buttons around and I quickly realised I would never be able to fly this thing. Not to mention all the traps they probably had on this aircraft. I tapped in Magneto's radio frequency and asked him to send someone to pick me up. I gave him my coordinates and crept out of the plane.

I saw the X-men off in the distance approaching and I hid myself behind a jeep. They all entered the plane one at a time until only Bekah was left. She stopped as she was about to enter and sniffed the air. She turned towards the jeep which I was hiding behind and smiled. Then she went inside the plane. Minutes later, the Blackbird rose and took off.

In even less time, Magneto showed up and took me back to his palace in silence. Without a word he ushered me inside and sat me down. I thought he was going to get really mad but he just sighed and asked me never to do that again.

"So you're not mad?" I asked.

"Oh, I am very angry with you," he replied. "But somehow I don't think it would do any good punishing you. It hasn't worked so far after all."

I agreed enthusiastically.

"I want you to trust me. You do trust me don't you?"

"Of course," I replied.

"Good. Why did you run off anyway? And where have you been all this time? Has anything happened?" Magneto fired off the questions in rapid succession.

I was so muddled by this sudden offense I ended up spilling the entire story to him. I hadn't meant to tell him the true story but one truth led to another and I was almost forced to tell him everything.

"Hmm," Magneto said after I'd finished. "Interesting."

And then he walked off. I cursed myself for telling him everything. I'd left out the part about the X-men rescuing me though. I'd told him I'd escaped myself. That lie came smoothly to my lips. I wondered what he was planning. I got up and then bowed in pain. Some of my internal injuries hadn't healed yet. I crawled up to my room, gasping for breath, sweat pouring off my forehead. I dragged myself into bed and went out like a candle.