Warning: More back story and mention of therapy, anxiety and bullying.

Logan was back in Codecott, Mississippi.

After their last visit, he'd been troubled by the incident and some of the clues that had been flying around. With the benefit of hindsight, he knew the mission had been a complete failure. He hadn't been able to identify Mystique's scent until it was too late and she had already integrated herself and intervened in their recruiting. Consequently, the girl had been terrified - sure that several members of the X-Men had attacked her - when in reality, the shape-shifter had been the culprit.

Consequently, two of their number had been badly hurt, falling victim to the girl's mutant abilities and allowing their own powers to fall into the hands of a vulnerable and inexperienced girl, along with the comatose school-boy. It wasn't until they were on their way back to Bayville that it occurred to Logan that the scent they'd followed around the town, was vaguely familiar. He hadn't been able to focus on it at the time but now it was all too clear. The 'Rogue' they'd been trying to approach, was in fact the young girl he'd met eight years ago...

He'd taken time away from the institute, fearing the rage that was his constant companion, threatening to take over. It was always a mixture of hatred, self-loathing and pain, though he'd never admit it.

He took to the road. On occasions such as this, his destination would be the Canadian Rockees, where his desperate search for the truth continued. A few months spent living alone and working odd jobs was usually enough to remind him of how far he'd come and that it was the Xavier institute that was his real home.

This time, he wasn't quite ready to go back having moved on, found a job working construction in Florida. The house he rented was little more than a shack but it served his purposes.

He was out the front, checking his bike when he noticed the car pull into what he presumed to be his neighbour's home. It was a mother and daughter team. The mom was decent looking, but he rarely got involved with women who had kids and until he had confirmation, he would assume she was off the market.

He watched them both enter the house carrying the brown bags of groceries, only for the kid to step out moments later, wearing roller-blades. He heard her on the porch, which must have disturbed her mother, who called out,

"No roller blades in the house."

"I'm not in the house, I'm on the porch." He could almost smell the sassiness pouring from the kid.

"The porch is an extension of the house, Aliyanna. You know the rules."

"Fine!"

He heard her on the gravel, veering dangerously close to his bike, only for her to stop.

"Watch where you're going kid."

The girl stared back at him, frowning. "You watch where you're going, jerk." She rolled away before her could say anything back. He noticed the woman running out of the house.

"I'm sorry if she disturbed you. She tends to act first and think later."

He could relate to that mentality.

"I'm Anna and that little whirlwind is my daughter, Aliyanna." She held out her hand.

"My name is Logan." He wiped the grease from his hands on his jeans and shook her hand.

XxX

During the next few months, he learned all he needed to about Anna and the kid. Anna was a nurse, a relentless do-gooder and a devoted mother to her only child. The father was out of the picture, had been since before birth.

Anna had also served in the military, where she'd trained as a medic, working in high-risk locations and doing more for her country than the average American. Whilst she was a kind woman, she wasn't a push-over, despite Aliyanna's numerous attempts.

At eight years odd, the kid was a curious creature, allergic to standing still and quite popular for her age, if the number of kids who knocked on their door was an indicator. The neighbourhood was one of those where the neighbours looked out for each other, bringing plates of food along with gossip and welcome baskets.

Logan's was still on the porch. He'd thought about chucking it, but caught Aliyanna passing by and gave it to her instead. The result was sugar induced high spirits, that weren't appreciated by her mother.

He found himself growing fond of the kid. She had a distinct way of talking and didn't hold back about the things she didn't agree with. Take the other children at her school. She told them they were either teacher's pets or trouble makers.

"Which group do you fit into?" He asked, gruffly, looking up briefly from working on his bike. There were days where he kept an eye on the girl if her mother had to run an errand. He didn't really mind. Aliyanna knew how protective he was of his bike and would keep a fair distance as she passed him the tools.

She shrugged. "I don't fit in either one."

He could relate to that.

One day, Anna had been called up to the school. There'd been some upset involving Aliyanna and another girl. Anna had rolled her eyes when he'd asked about it.

"Go on, tell Mr Logan what happened."

Mother and daughter exchanged a knowing smirk.

"The teacher asked us to write about our favourite animals. Most of the girls said they wanted ponies and horses and would call them things like 'Rainbow' and 'Magic'."

He winced at the stereotypical choices. "Go on."

"I said I wanted a wolf cub."

He had to admit, he knew she was a tomboy, but would never have figured she'd picked that. Then again, he had noticed recently that she had a habit of saying things for the sole aim of gaining a reaction. "And..."

"It would be called Logan."

He grinned. "Oh really? They called you up for that?"

"Well that's not it. The other girl started crying and said that Aliyanna wrote she would train the cub to attack the ponies. Of course, the teacher didn't bother to read what my daughter wrote. She had the principal call me to have a parent teacher conference. I insisted on seeing the exercise and the teacher got very quiet."

"What about the other kid, will she get into trouble?"

Aliyanna snorted. Anna sighed. "Don't do that in public Aliyanna."

"So I can do it in private?"

"No, it's a bad habit." She turned to Logan. "I doubt the girl will get into trouble. The teacher happens to be her Aunt. You know how it is in small towns. They're very nepotistic."

"What's nepotistic?" Aliyanna's voice popped up.

"Why don't you go look it up in the dictionary. Go on now."

The young girl took the hint and entered the house. He saw her later in the evening, on her roller-blades.

XxX

Now, he sat waiting outside the office of Mississippi's Child Protective Services. Normally, it would be Charles that dealt with this, but he'd requested the task, having admitted to a suspected shared past.

Charles had been curious.

"And you're sure this is the same girl?"

"Not quite, I've got a hunch and my hunches rarely steer me wrong. If it is the same girl, I need to know what happened to her mother. The woman I knew would never have given up on her kid."

"So you suspect foul play?"

"I wouldn't put anything past Mystique." He paused, moving to the window. "Look, you might as well know now that her mother asked me to look after her, if the worst should happen. That I'd share custody with her friend Carole or take her on as my own. I never thought it would come to this."

Charles Xavier was a compassionate man and so did not argue the matter. Whilst the gruff Canadian wasn't exactly father-material, there was a depth of protectiveness about him and if this girl had brought out even half as much in him, than she must be something very special.

XxX

"It's Mr Logan, right?"

He'd finally been allowed admittance into the office of a middle-aged male social worker. "How can I help?"

"I wanted to ask about a kid I believe is in your care. Or was until recently?"

"Are you a relation?"

"I was a friend to her mother. She asked that if anything happened to her, I'd step up, or at the very least, share custody."

"I see." Logan could tell he was bluffing. The man didn't have a clue.

"I've been trying to track down the woman, but I haven't had much luck."

"Can you tell me the name?"

"Carole Danvers."

The man typed something into his computer, trying to give a very professional visage. Logan wasn't buying it.

"I'm sorry, I have no record of that name."

"What if gave you the Mother's name?"

Again, with the typing, before a brief shake of the head.

"I'm sorry, I wish I could help."

Logan didn't offer a response as he left the room. He had however noticed that the man wasn't as comfortable as he wanted to appear, thus, Logan decided to make his own search.

XxX

It was late when he returned to the office, under the cover of night, armed with his handle adamantium claws, regenerative healing and slick senses. He'd spoken to Charles earlier and though it went against his ethics, the Professor agreed to enable a deeper investigation into the filing systems, with help from Kitty Pryde.

Logan rifled through the filing cabinets one last time but couldn't find any file relating to the girl, forcing him to follow Kitty's instructions that would allow her access into the County database.

He continued to search the office whilst the connection was being made, taking care to look out for any unwanted workers, returning for a forgotten file.

There was nothing but silence.

Kitty's voice crackled over the intercom. "Ok, I'm in. Who am I looking for?"

"Try the name Anna Green."

"Is that her name?"

"No, it was her mother's."

He heard the typing once more.

"There's nothing coming up. Should I try Rogue?"

"Yes."

This time, it took a little longer.

"That's funny. It looks like there was a file, but it's been deleted."

"What does that mean?"

"Hang on, give me a minute."

Back at the mansion, Kitty had rifled through all the legitimate files and was looking into the personal files. There were several other files to sift through and it was some time before Kitty tracked down what looked like documents eluding to an adoption.

The Professor had picked up on somthing Kitty had failed to see, or was unable to understand. He suggested she take a break, while he looked into locked files that pertained to financial settlements. He saw a payment had been made to the man's personal bank account as well as a court order, expediting the hasty adoption of one sixteen year old by the name of Rogue.

XxX

Rogue's day had started fairly well.

She'd taken advantage of being an early riser to prepare herself for the day. Her car had arrived, finally, and she wanted to explore the town. After last night's civil exchange, she'd left her mobile number on a piece of paper in front of the fridge. Having driven around for most of the morning, she returned to the cafe for lunch before returning to the Brotherhood house.

Toad was passed out in front of the TV and Lance was working on his truck. They exchanged greetings but that was the sum of their acquaintance. She tried not to let it bother her, planning what she would need for the next day. Planning for her first day at a new school.

Past experiences had given her anxiety for anything linked to school. That was excluding the knowledge that the X-men would be there. How would they play it? Would they try and engage with her, bring her over to their way of thinking? Would they shun her for hooking up with the enemy?... No, that was the wrong word. Her days of hooking up with anyone were at an end, at least until she managed some control over her powers. Curse, whatever. She felt the urge to throw up and barely made it to the bathroom before she spewed up her lunch. She hated the way bodily functions had a habit of ruining her day, one way or another.

She told herself she needed to be cool and calm tomorrow. But how was that possible when her nerves were yelling at her to feign illness? To lock the door, hide under the covers and shut out the world?

But then, her inner rebel spoke out. Why should she have to hide? Apart from putting her boyfriend into a coma, what had she done to deserve this purgatory? She was the innocent in this. She had always been innocent... the thought calmed her slightly but it wasn't enough. She was still too nervous at the thought of facing her attackers, whilst they went about their day.

What was it the shrink - no, holistic therapist - told her to do? Expel negativity and embrace positivity? Huh, well there wasn't much she could do about her negativity, unless...

She fished through her bedside drawer - a cheap, plywood affair - and pulled out the diary her grief counsellor had given her. She'd made a few entries but they were so pitiful, she had to stop. No-one wants to hear about a whiny brat moaning about her fears... that was another thing the therapist said, stop being self-deprecating. She was fed up of people telling her what to do, who to listen to, who was right and who was wrong. She was just done with it all.

She looked down at the book and noticed she'd sub-consciously started writing this down. Her words were scrawled over the page, growing bigger and more untidy. She forced herself to stop, take a breath and turn the page. She didn't want to sound like your average angry teenager and at the same time, she wanted to at least pretend she could actually talk to someone. To have someone tell her that she mattered. The best way, would be to write a letter, even if it was to a made up person, at least for a short while, she could pretend she had someone who cared about her.

The name Scarlett had always been a favourite. It was bold and daring. It was someone she most definitely wanted to be. Scarlett didn't care about anybody. She was her own person and lived by her own rules...

Dear Scarlett,

Tomorrow is my first day back at school and Ah'm bricking it. Ah have to attend a school with the same people who chased me through the streets of Coldecott. At first, Ah thought they were trying to help me, but when Ah didn't immediately go along with their plans, they turned on meh. One of them had metal claws growing out of his hands and another controlled the weather. They were wearing these weird uniforms and had all kinds of powers, like Ah do.

Luckily Irene had a friend to help me. Ah never thought Ah'd be grateful to Irene. Perhaps she was right to keep me from Cody. If Ah had listened, he wouldn't be in a coma now... is he still in a coma? That's another life ruined. Maybe Ah do deserve to be destroyed? It would have been better if the X-Men took me out straight away, instead of trying to entice me onto their side, then killing me.

Mystique says Ah have to face them, that Ah can't hide in fear. It's all well and good her saying that, she's not the one they're after. It was Mystique that got me enrolled in the school. She knows the Principal and made it happen.

She broke off for a moment, taking in a breath.

Ah have to act as though Ah'm not scared of the X-Men and get to know a whole bunch of new people, who will probably give me grief about everything I do and the only people that I can potentially depend on are my housemates.

Kill me now.

XxX