I'm back again!

Thank you to Tiger mutant for reviewing, I guessed it might have been a good reaction, in a way, but thanks for the confirmation XD.

Finally some Aqua in this chapter! I'm unsure about her character development, it seems a little...more powerful than it should be in a sense, and quite different from before. I don't know. I kind of was thinking like Magneto had brainwashed her into thinking the brotherhood and his plans were right and Professor X and peace were wrong, since we've been learning about child soldiers in geography which is a horrible modern issue, but I kind of see it like that.

I've got another story of sorts in the works, I'm not uploading a first chapter though, I'm trying a new tactic of writing a few chapters and then having time to go over them and then write more.

its meant to be a post-avengers type AU with Loki escaping from Asgard...but there's a problem with the spell, and well, let's say that Kid!Loki is a brat about it XD. I really wanted a hand at writing a kid!loki fic but like I always end up doing I've written an oc to go with it as a babysitter. Tell me if you would like to see this as I kind unsure about it, it's in a different writing style than I normally do.

I've been addicted to this song for a while now, I don't really like Jay-z or Rihanna that much but this song just keeps getting stuck in my head.

disclaimer: I only own ocs

with that done, on with the chapter...

Life's a game, but it's not fair,
I break the rules, so I don't care,
So I keep doin' my own thing,
Walkin' tall against the rain,

Victory's within the mile,
Almost there, don't give up now,
Only thing that's on my mind,
Is who's gonna run this town tonight,

Jay-Z ~ Run This Town

I leaned against the metal wall in silence, bored out of my mind as Toad continually sprayed the cylinder-looking decoration, the spray can quickly gliding up and down.

He didn't seem adapt at health and safety, only wearing goggles that made his already bug-like eyes massive, quite humorous if the rest of his face wasn't so sickly looking. He didn't wear a mask even though there was likely toxins in the spray that could be inhaled, then again, I didn't know whether mutants were effected by such things.

Toad was a disgusting little twerp, but I played nice the best I could, if best counted for common exchanges of insults and pranks. Magneto stated numerous times that when the time came, I might just have to rely on Toad to help me not die and me to him. However, I think silently be both agreed if the time did come, we might just accidentally be unable to help.

"Take a picture...it'll last longer."

His cocky voice pulled me out of my thoughts, these being of Toad being torn to pieces by Wolverine, which had brought a delightful smirk onto my face. He had turned around to look at me, a sly grin that revealed yellow rotting teeth, clearly suggesting something that wanted to make me gag.

I played along, this was the best entertainment there was when I couldn't leave the island.

"Think I'll pass. Pretty sure toads don't turn into princes, they just stay the annoying little shits they are." I countered, a sarcastic smile on my face before I scowled again. He shrugged his shoulders, returning back to his spraying as he couldn't be bothered to banter with me.

Again I was resulted to boredom, the island extremely monotonous (a complicated word I had learnt from Magneto) after a year. It was hard to believe it had been so long, finding that I had used most of it either performing tasks Magneto had set up for me or to practise combat with Mystique.

I was always trying to do more than I should be able to do, she was a much better teacher than Wolverine, but she was also (surprisingly) less patient. I knew she was simply teaching me the basics. I may have been accepted as a member of the brotherhood, but I had a long way to go to prove my loyalty.

And I desperately wanted to prove loyalty, the brotherhood had already given me so much, it was time to repay them.

Thuds erupted from down one of the corridors, my eyes snapping in the direction, having to lean to the side as Toad and his sprayed cylinder were in the way. Sabretooth stormed through the round room, clearly heading to tell Magneto his failure to capture the mutant.

I was glad I wasn't him.

"Weren't you meant to bring someone back?" Toad mocked, an agitated roar of warning escaping from Sabretooth's fang infested mouth. Toad wasn't fazed, returning to spraying yet again after another interruption. I glared at the back of his head, a mischievous smirk spreading across my face.

Silently, I breathed in deeply, squeezing water out of my body to collect into my left hand. I didn't do the trick often, because I needed to replenish with fresh water afterwards in case dehydration weakened me. But at a time such as this, I was willing to risk it. The water danced in my palm, silently growing in size as more water squeezed out of my organs and into congregating ball.

With one thrust, a bucket sized flood of water splashed over Toad's head, the water dripping down to create the only sound in the room which travelled loudly. He stood motionless in mid-spray with a dreary sigh. He really despised my rare moments of childish behaviour, as it usually ended up with him being at the brunt of some sort of prank.

I stifled my snickering with a hand over my mouth, even more so as he turned around with a blank but easily detectable agitated expression.

"You missed a spot." I quipped, pushing myself off the wall as I followed after Sabretooth. Toad's face surveyed as I ambled around and down the circular corridor, poking his long tongue in my direction before retracting it back into his mouth.

He shook his head like a wet dog, the water droplets collecting on the metallic floor with little patters. He resumed to spray, wondering why he hadn't spat his slime in my face yet.

He would try at some point, when Magneto and Mystique's back was turned.

He wasn't going to be outsmarted by a teenager.

As I marched down the corridor, I heard parts of Sabretooth and Magneto's conversation, and weirdly Magneto was only irritated at the failed capture. However, I distinctly heard a name that made my blood boil, even if Magneto used it with a knowing tone.

Charles Xavier, he was still meddling with humans, trying to find a peace between humanity and mutants. When would he learn humans didn't want peace, they wanted to test, experiment and destroy every mutant on the planet.

Humans wanted a war. And apparently a war they were going to get.

"Where is the mutant now?" Magneto asked evenly, to which Sabretooth replied just as I stepped through the door.

"With them." He answered gruffly. I waited by the entrance, not wanting to interrupt the conversation, Magneto possibly thinking I was prying. I wasn't. I wanted to know if it was finally time.

After a year of seeing nothing but rock, metal and water...I wanted freedom, to walk on concrete ground under the magnificent skyscrapers. I hated humanity, but I couldn't help but respect their imagination on democracy and growth. If it wasn't for growth, Magneto's power would be useless, nearly everything was made of metal nowadays.

Magneto's gaze briefly rested on me from behind Sabretooth, his mind ticking over what was the best way to proceed as he sat at his desk, the metal balls clinking as they usually did when he was in the room.

"I have made the first move. That is all they know. Come, the UN summit is approaching." He said after thinking over a probably next move, stepping out of the metal chair as he approached Sabretooth, both of them turning around to look at me.

Sabretooth bared his fangs when he realised I had overheard the conversation. A year ago the sight would have turned my legs to jelly, now, I didn't think twice about angering him further, because he would never truly attack me unless permission was granted by Magneto.

"Did the big bad kitty loose it's prey?" I mocked, pouting at the resentful hairy face of Sabretooth. Magneto simply carried on walking, allowing the hidden insult be said, this being the punishment for not bringing the mutant.

"Time for our little test." He called back to me and Sabretooth, who glared at me with his black irises before stomping over to the desk, collecting what sounded like a metal necklace, however I couldn't quite see what it actually was. As Sabretooth snatched it, the clinking balls fell and rolled off the desk.

"Pip squeak." He growled as he crashed into my shoulder, causing a large amount of pain, however I winced through it, I didn't want to look weak in front of the big bad kitty. I wanted to counter, glaring at the animal as it marched proudly after Magneto.

I could feel the energy in my fingers tingle with the anticipation to drown Sabretooth on his own bodily fluid. With as much willpower as I could muster, I clenched my hands into fists to stop the water seeping through the invisible cracks in the flesh of my fingers. Instead, I walked purposely towards the room with the lake water, needing to replenish my own water supply before my skin started to dry out.

That was the flaw I had with these new powers, they drained me, drained my own physical being. But it was a price worth paying as every new trick I learnt made me more confident in fights against my old teachers, there was no doubt in my mind that they would protect the mutant, and I was more than ready to face them.

I couldn't face the others though. Not yet.

The people I had blocked out of my mind, but they still managed to invade my sleep with memories of the days when my power was merely child's play. I had learnt to ignore the feeling in my gut to go back, but it took everything in me in the first couple of months, however, now all I had to do was imagine a brighter future for mutants while humanity got what it deserved.

There were times I would disagree with the notion, thinking all I wanted was to make the people that had tested on me and other mutants to suffer, but as Mystique had told me, humanity wouldn't rest until every mutant was destroyed.

I promised Isaac I would fight an army to protect him...humanity was the army, and I was sure as hell going to fight, even if it meant fighting the X-men.

As I reached the room, now fitted with Magneto's glorious machine, I kneeled next to the right side of the walkway. I didn't dare take my clothes off and go for a swim, not with Toad and his sickening wandering eyes.

I had to learn that the hard way.

Gently, I pulled up my jumper sleeve to reveal my pinkish pigment arm, the healed scar that had been caused by Sabretooth a year ago a constant reminder of the day I first joined the brotherhood. If I wished I could just heal it completely, but I wanted to keep it, like a badge of honour.

Slowly I lowered my hand into the freezing water, sighing as the tiny water snakes glided up my arm and under the layers of clothing, seeping along my whole body as the clothes began feeling damp. I didn't care, the relief caused by the glistening strands clouded the dampness of the fabric. I felt the strands finally sink inside the flesh of my chest, arms, legs and finally into my neck.

It was the kick I needed.

For a few moments I slowly swirled my hand in the liquid, keeping it submerged as the water particles whispered to each other. I grew accustomed to this murmuring. I studied my reflection as the particles talked to each other, clearly not wanting to talk to me just yet or they would make themselves more clear.

My hair was still the many shades of blue and purple, but had grown longer, the tips now reaching the small of my back, this being irritating sometimes so I usually tied it up in a side platt.

My face held no prominent scars or cracks of dried flesh once the water had revived me, but I never wanted it to be perfect, only collecting enough so I looked the same before I joined the brotherhood; the dark shade under my eyes from lack of sleep, the odd hormonal encouraged spots.

The tomboy look stayed, a camouflaged styled jacket with cut off sleeves with the stitches hanging loosely on my shoulders, a tight fitting black undershirt which would enclose the water if I didn't have my abilities and baggy black trousers that hid large military style boots.

I stared at the reflection, not even recognising the girl that stared back at me.

Woman.

The woman that stared back at me. I wasn't a child anymore.

I smirked. This was the confidence I had needed most of my life, now I had finally found it with the brotherhood.

It's starting...the war is starting...

The water finally spoke, every particle clubbing together to repeat these words so I could hear. I shushed them into calmness as waves began to form on the surface, the particles chatting excitedly. They did as I commanded and became still once more.

I raised my hand out and let the droplets splash into the lake again, the rest that where supposed to wrinkle my skin crawled inside and smoothed it out again.

"Time to prepare for Senator Kelly...can't wait to meet him." I mumbled to myself, finding I did it often if Mystique wasn't around for little chats.

Even with her inability to show nearly any emotions, when it came to talking about humans and the mistreatment towards mutants, she was ready to speak her hatred and sometimes even mentions of her past.

In truth, there was nothing I could possibly do to show how grateful I was for her finding me in that alleyway of despair.

All I could do, however, was help bring about a new age. Even if a molecule part of me didn't want it, but wanted to return to the X-mansion and be a student again. But I couldn't go back. Not now. I'd be an outcast, a traitor, and who would want to be simply known as that?

No-one...no-one wants to be nameless.

John barely listened to Professor Monroe's droning voice that went on about the civil war as he knew the new student was sat behind him. Rumours had quickly spread around school about her, and apparently she'd only arrived a few hours ago.

He couldn't hide his own intrigue on why the X-men had brought her, normally Professor X would go out and find them or they would voluntarily run away and find the mansion themselves.

Either way, he thought he would give her a warm welcome.

When Professor Monroe turned her back on the class as she wrote on the chalkboard, John quickly clicked his lighter open behind his back and sparked the flame that ignited into a burning ball in his hand. He tried to turn his head to the side to see her face, but couldn't quite get it to turn without her noticing, even if the ball had mesmerised her.

Strangely, he felt a cold breeze collect around his hand. He had realised too late as Bobby's ice crystals froze his flame ball and send it crashing to the ground, earning John himself to jolt in shock as everyone's eyes turned on him. On cue Professor Monroe also turned around and instantly her quizzical eyes rested on him, knowing he was the one to interrupt the class.

"John, pay attention." She ordered in her calm tone, however the authority was detectable.

"Sorry Miss." He quickly apologised before he even knew the words had fallen off his tongue. Since when did he apologise? Maybe it was just a spur of the moment. He didn't turn around and glare at Bobby, mainly because he was already talking to the new girl.

"Hi, I'm Bobby...what's your name?" He asked in that kind voice of his, one that grated John as he hadn't used it in a while, normally it was an accusing tone.

"Rogue." The new girl answered, and John could detect a deep southern accent.

"Welcome to mutant high." Bobby joked, to which John rolled his eyes...he had stolen the nickname off him. John resumed his semi-listening state back to Professor Monroe, most of his attention focused on his lighter that was still gripped in his fingers, the object slowly turning in his fingertips.

As soon as the class was over, John rushed to pull his bag over his shoulder and turned around to leave. Catching a glance at the new girl, compared to some mutants, she looked quite plain with her brown hair and slightly pale features, but then again if she was at the school then she clearly wasn't plain.

They locked eyes for a second, John using the small amount of time to smirk and wink at Rogue. Uncomfortably she looked away, standing up and walking out of the classroom before people could bustle past her.

He received evil eyes off Kitty and Jubilee, Bobby wearing a simple stern look. He ignored all of them, pushing past most of the students who were trying to escape out of the double doors. Multiple times he heard protests as he shoved people out the way, but they quickly deteriorated the further away he got.

"John wait up." Bobby called, jogging to catch up with the pyromaniac. John carried on walking, ignoring the iceman beside him who kept up with his increasing pace.

"Hey." He protested, gripping John's arm in an act to stop him, ice forming on his hand from the tight grip. Shrugging the hand off, John turned to face his one friend, finding that he wondered why he was still his friend after all the crap he had said over the course of the year.

Bobby took a steady step closer to John, attempting to wear a firm but fair look, better than the one he had worn moments before. John tried to copy it, and found he wore it much better than Bobby.

"Creating a fireball in class is one thing, but harassing Rogue isn't some game." He stated, clearly trying to warn John off. John scoffed, taking his own step forward as younger kids sprinted past the two in their confrontation.

"Hardly harassment...all I did was introduce myself, I'm Pyro after all." He argued, thinking he had the upper hand. But Bobby had another trick up his sleeve, he had the truth behind John's behaviour.

"Try and act like the big man all you want, like you don't have feelings, but I know this is all just a front. I know you. You're not the only one who's blaming themselves for Sam leaving. Johanna can't go through a week without crying, Isaac spends more time in the library alone than in classes, Kitty still has moments of falling through the floor and I'm using all my willpower to not punch you in the face." Bobby finished, his one hand that had involuntarily clenched itself as he spoke.

Sometimes all he had to do was see John's smirk and it would send him into a silent rage, because he thought he was being selfish, not caring about what anybody else was feeling.

He missed Sam, yes she had hurt someone, but they should've been there to stop her before it happened. He hated himself for snapping at her when at the club, he would give anything to take it back. But the another part of him knew he was angry that she hadn't come back, that she'd stayed with the brotherhood Isaac was always going on about.

"You see, that's your problem Bobby." John spoke with a chuckle, leaning into Bobby's face with a glare in his eyes. "You're all bark and no bite." He seethed, walking away before Bobby could counter. Bobby breathed heavily as to keep the anger inside him, his fist again becoming ice as he clenched it tighter.

John just wanted to be far away from everyone.

Three times he had been stopped by people who had talked about her.

Three times he had walked away with them hating him.

He didn't want them to hate him, he didn't like the things he was saying, but how else was he supposed to get them off his back about her?

Maybe her spirit would never go away, someone who remembered her would look at him and say he's the guy who went out with the girl who went with the brotherhood, and he shouldn't care if they did, but he didn't want to be associated with her anymore. As he had said to Isaac, she made the choice, she left...it wasn't his fault that she'd left her memories behind to follow the people that knew her.

Just stop thinking about her, people will stop eventually...

He convinced himself, wondering why it was so difficult to forget just one girl, he'd managed to forget his sister, why not his ex-girlfriend?

He scolded himself for that, even the term ex-girlfriend made his teeth grind as once he honestly thought there wouldn't be an ex in front of it. But he had done what his sister had always told him, what his parents had always told him before they abandoned him when his mutation reached critical:

He had ruined it, just like he ruined everything.

Bobby was right, no matter how much he tried to deny it, he felt responsible for Sam leaving. He didn't know why exactly, he hadn't done anything wrong except be a terrible listener...and also not able to see when Sam was scared...or sad...or alone.

Emotions were bullshit, that was his definition of them:

Bullshit.

All they ever did was make you feel happy and high for a few brief moments, and then you crashed and realise your life was a mess...so emotions were like drugs, a quick fix and you're on top of the world, next minute you wished you were never born.

I seriously need to stop talking to myself...

John sighed, turning a corner in the direction of the library. He wanted to find Isaac, he didn't know why, something just pushed him to see the kid. He was about to reach out and grab the door handle, but a pinch in his gut told him not to. For a moment he was confused, after all, Isaac was always in the library.

Maybe his dorm...is that where I'm supposed to go?

He questioned his own thoughts, however he turned around and began walking in the direction of Isaac's dorm. He didn't know what made him stop, nor did he know why he thought to go to his dorm, either way it wasn't too far away and within ten minutes he was banging on the door.

His knocks were met with silence, odd, John would honestly be surprised if he was in class. He made another series of knocks, and again went unanswered.

Normally he would just walk away, either the kid had already seen him do this with his future seeing crap, or he just wasn't in there. But something told him he was, and the strange sensation seemed more like paranoia as he didn't honestly understand why he was so determined to see the kid.

"Kid if you're in there, I just wanna talk."

For some messed up reason...

He added in his head, telling himself that he should just walk away. As a last resort he tried turning the door handle, seeing that it did open and he stepped inside gingerly. He peaked his head around the door, the main room deserted but was filled with comic book character figurines and other assorted merchandise.

Someone has an obsession...

He mocked, but found that his wandering eyes rested on what he believed to be the bathroom door. His feet moved on their own accord as he stormed over to the closed door, pressing an ear against it. He heard no distinct noises.

"Kid you in there? This is probably a really bad time but I need to talk to you...I have absolutely no idea why." He mumbled the last part to himself, having knocked on the door as he spoke. However yet again he went unanswered.

Just leave...

He commanded himself, and he was about to obey when shouts exploded from within the bathroom.

"Don't so it, don't do it, don't do it! It'll kill him!"

The screams (even though mumbled by the door and possibly some other object) nearly sent John flying backwards, cursing under his breath as he forced his heart not to beat so quickly. He desperately tried turning the door handle, the screams followed loud splashes in a ferocious manner.

"Isaac open the door!" John shouted frantically, but he guessed Isaac couldn't hear him.

Was he seeing the future?

"Sammy he's lying to you, he's just earning your trust, he's twisting everything!"

More shouts of the subject he didn't have a clue on, but the name brought rage that he used to bash against the door, trying to pry it open as he slammed his shoulder into it. After the tenth blow at the door, the lock snapped and John stumbled head first inside, shoulder pulsing with future bruises.

But instantly he stood up again, finding the bath tub where Isaac thrashed under the boiling water. He was dressed, his clothes clearly weighing him down as they were completely drenched. John stood awestruck for a moment, the dazzling gills with their ocean blue scales shimmering in the light.

Without thinking, John heaved Isaac to sit up with his hands clenched around one shoulder. He groaned as the weight of the water (along with Isaac's clothing) made it seem as if he was lifting heavy weights.

Isaac gasped and his eyes shot open as clear air engulfed him. Because he moved so suddenly, John lost his grip and fell backwards, his bag slipping off his shoulder and resting limply on the tiled floor beside him, his lighter also falling out of his back pocket and skidding along the shiny surface.

John breathed heavily, not only did his shoulder feel dislodged, but his arms ached due to the sudden strength to pull Isaac out of the water. Within moments of re-surfacing, Isaac's gills slithered back into his skin, Isaac himself staring wide-eyed at John.

"Machine...UN summit...Liberty Island..." Isaac mumbled incoherently to himself, even with him looking directly at John, he still couldn't fathom he was there as his mind was still in the future.

He had seen it, seen Rogue strapped to the evil machine as it forced the mutant gene to work faster, attempting to change all the powerful leaders into mutants. But it wouldn't work...it would kill them. And only Isaac knew that little detail.

"You..." He spoke directly to John, now seeing the familiar pyromaniac sighing heavily on the floor. "You idiot! Don't you know how dangerous it is to pull someone out mid-future seeing?"

It was a rhetorical question because Isaac knew he didn't know, he just had to blame him for nearly killing him. Well, honestly he didn't know himself whether it would kill him, all he knew was that it was like when someone sleepwalks, you don't wake them up.

"No I don't bloody know! But I was at least expecting a little gratitude!" He argued back, massaging his shoulder gingerly as it pained to even touch it, there would definitely be angry bruises later.

Of course the kid wouldn't be thankful, why would he? He hated him.

"Gratitude? I was fine. This is what I have to put up with every time! Everyone wants to know their future, everyone wants me to tell them their future. I'm torturing myself to just find out whether my sister is okay!" He shouted, pulling himself slowly out of the bath tub with jelly arms.

His clothes scattered water all over the tiled floor as he stepped out, John's (even though slightly damp from the splashes that occurred pulling Isaac up) trousers dampened as water seeped underneath him.

"Why do you bother? She doesn't care about you if she left you, alone, again." He grumbled, also pulling himself to his feet, attempting to pick up his bag and lighter. Unfortunately, he turned around (with his bag and lighter safely in his pocket) to Isaac about to punch him. On instinct he gripped the raised wrist, also quickly going to grab the other one as it swung at him.

What the hell kid, I know I'm a dick but you're too small to try and hit me!

He half-mocked half-strained as Isaac's hands thrashed in his grip.

"She didn't leave me alone on purpose! She had no choice but to leave, the future was already written, she had to join them!" He snarled, even with his promise to not tell anyone the future, he was already doing a poor job. Eventually he gave up trying to punch John to a pulp, finding the older teenager too strong, even with his sudden growth spurt.

With a grunt, he flicked his arms out of John's grip, taking a step back to create a space between the two of them.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand. True, the future isn't set in stone and it can be changed, but there are events and accidents that happen to push someone towards their appropriate destiny. It's like everyone has their own unique purpose; Sammy's was to leave that night. But I can't tell you anymore of her future, it would mean you could change it which is not a good idea." He explained, extremely pissed off that one, John had successfully humiliated him by pulling him out of the water and stopping his punches and two, he had let himself say too much about future seeing.

He hated keeping it to himself, but like he said, it was his purpose to see the future as to make sure everything happened accordingly.

One wrong move, everything would be lost.

He didn't like the future, the far future, mutants on the verge of collapse...but there was a small hope that it could be saved from the past.

But then technically it would have already happened? Or the future being re-written from the past meant they had to get to the future first, right?

Timelines were so confusing, that's another thing he hated, his mind ached with the amount of thinking he had to do every time something new was seen in his future-seeing.

"Bullshit, it wasn't some divine destiny that made her leave, all it was was her being selfish and thinking nobody suffered more than her." John said cynically, the words spilling off his tongue before he could think, and his ex-girlfriend's brother looked as if he was about make his head explode. He quickly raised his hands up defensively, really wishing that sometimes he thought before he spoke.

"I didn't mean that." He lied, Isaac glaring at him hatefully before sighing, head bowed to the floor with his shoulders stooped.

"I know you meant it. And in some ways, you're right, but I want to believe my sister is still in there, I have to or no-one else will." He said hollowly, shivering slightly as the coldness finally sunk into his skin, goosebumps appearing under his damp clothes.

"Whatever you have against me, I deserve it, but...you're not-" John stuttered, unable to let the words escape his mouth, but luckily Isaac wore a meek smile to show his gratitude that he was trying.

"Look, don't just mope around like the world's ending. You've got to move on, no matter how hard it is, you can't let people bring you down." John said encouragingly, but knew his words would mean nothing to the teen. Isaac didn't even look up, he simply turned around and placed a hand in the lessened water, tiny flickers of memories sprouting in his mind, just by the tiniest touch.

Feeling it was time to leave, John swiftly turned around and tried to escape the awkward air. Unfortunately for him, Isaac snapped his head in his direction and spoke urgently.

"She'll come back."

John stopped abruptly, twisting around to look back at Isaac, seeing a weird ancient expression that could match Professor X's. He wasn't exactly depressed, but his eyes glistened with future tears, and the tiniest faked smile cracked onto his face.

"She will come back." Isaac repeated, even though he already had John's full attention. "I've seen it. But it'll take a while for her to realise." He said, vaguely giving any direct information. With John's mouth slightly ajar, Isaac could tell he was trying to tick over and comprehend what he had just said.

"How long?" He murmured, gritting his teeth as his mind screamed for him to leave, to not care if she did return. But he was disobeying, he was disobeying his own mind because somewhere else told him differently...he hated how cliché that sounded.

"I can't-" Isaac stuttered, shaking his head because yet again he had said too much. He felt John deserved to know that Sammy would come back, but it wouldn't be for a long time.

Next time, I need to just keep my mouth shut...

He scolded, seeing that John wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"How. Long."

It wasn't a question. It was a very clear command, one that physically made Isaac gulp.

"A few years, that's all I can tell you." He croaked, this not being the answer John wanted as he shook his head violently.

"Then why tell me? By then I would have forgotten her completely, same as everybody else." He hissed, now walking out of the dorm without looking back, slamming the front door shut.

I sighed, sometimes I missed the solitary confinement of the laboratory, it meant I didn't have to socialise with people, which was one of the hardest things to do at a school where anyone could kill you in a split second if they so wished.

"You owe me a broken lock..." I mumbled, pulling the plug out of the bath tub and letting the water swirl away, the final gulp of the plug hole something that reminded me of a human burp. The comparison amused me, but the shivers that erupted over my skin forced me to leave the bathroom and put on dry clothes.

I thought it was time to lay off the future-seeing for a while. To just wing it as Connor had told me, the vocabulary something I was struggling to get used to, and being around Elijah wasn't helping.

As I yanked the drenched t-shirt off, I couldn't help but look at my bare skin in the mirror, seeing a thin mass of hair sprouting from my chest. I groaned. Puberty was another thing I had to deal with. Apparently almost dying, being a lab rat, losing a sister and being a future-seer weren't enough.

I wouldn't dare take a peak downstairs.

Instead I just slipped on a black turtle neck jumper that Bobby had given me, a pair of plain blue jeans and some old fashioned black shoes curtsy of Elijah. None of the clothes felt right, I wasn't into all that neat fashion, I had lived with the idea that second hand clothes were a miracle.

I missed that, missed the simplicity that was the old farmhouse with its eroding grey bricks and cottage-like wonky design. It surprised me how the little things I remembered the most, another example being how Sammy would always give me some extra food from her plate when Mom wasn't looking, the little hollow smile on her eight year old face.

Those little things that people took for granted, but I cherished them even more everyday, trying to remember more of those little things. But I couldn't, the ones I did were just fragments because I had been so young, the earliest memory I could find was me sinking his nails into Mom's skin when I nearly drowned.

It was a horrible first memory, but it was stuck in my head and replayed repeatedly like on an old record player, the needle jammed.

She knew.

She knew about my mutation after that moment, it was never the water that scared me, it was always those gills that sprouted out of my neck like some disease. Sometimes I considered myself lucky that she didn't actually try and drown me, after all, finding out your child was a mutant was normally thought of as a death sentence.

But she didn't.

She never told anyone about it, not even Sammy, but then again she must have known her mutation too. It was strange how all the puzzle pieces slotted together, years of trying to figure out why dad left, why he hated mutants, but the more I knew, the more ignorant I wanted to be.

Ignorance is bliss and all that.

I moaned, the crippling migraine forming behind my eyes. I decided to just have a nap, like I had originally planned to do, but found I had to try and find Sammy one last time.

I scurried under the thin sheets, staring at the ceiling as my eyes tried to flutter closed they were so worn down. In the end, I let them, because I honestly welcomed sleep after all that had happened that day.

And it was only just starting.

Did anyone get the 'time line' reference. If not, it's meant to be a slight thingy towards the messed up timeline of the X-men films, I thought it would note retina to add it in in some way. I'm not good with humour, but seeing as I loathe growing up, I thought it would be fun or awkward to add it, but also to show that Isaac is growing up.

Thats all for now, can't wait until next chapter!

~GothGirlStrikesAgain