Aliana has been living at the X-mansion for about a good month and she liked it there.  She liked her job.  She proved to be very useful on the battlefield and handy if they didn’t have enough medical supplies.  She earned their respect but not friendship, which she was fine with, Aliana was used to being alone.

She was sitting in the study reading a book, when she noticed someone was in there with her.  She looked up to find Logan, leaning against the doorway.  He looked like he wanted to talk, so she sat her book down and motioned for him to take a seat cross from her.

“Hello, Logan,” she said standing up as he came closer to her, “how are you today?”

“I’m all right, darlin’,” he replied taking a seat across from her, “you?”

“I’m good, thank you,” she smiled at him, “So, what is it that you have come to ask me?”

“What do you mean?”

“You only come to me when you want something, usually an answer,” she shrugged.

“Who taught you to fight like that?” he asked curiously.

“I taught myself,” she replied simply, “I had to learn.  I’ve been on the streets for so long.  It’s either die or fight.”

“You’re one hell of a fighter,” he nodded feeling a pang of remorse for her and pride as well, “have you always been able to move like that?”

“No, I trained myself,” she stated, “my parents were abusive, I spent most of my time running and hiding, that was where I perfected that ability and my senses.  They liked to lock me in the closet for punishment.”

“What happened to them?” he asked gruffly, he wasn’t expecting that.

“I don’t know, after I burned the house down they disappeared,” she shrugged, “they made me mad and that was when my power decided to kick in.”

“You’ve had a rough life, kid,” he replied.

“Nah, it could’ve been worse,” she said simply.

“You don’t think that was bad?” he asked looking as if she grew another head.

“No, I could handle it.  I took care of myself, I comforted myself, and I love myself, it would have been bad if I could not do those things.  I also failed to mention that I’ve loved others, even my enemy which I would use the term loosely,” she played with the book on her lap, “It would have been bad if I had blamed myself and others condemned me.”

“But the X-men,” he started to say but thought better of it.

“Some of them do condemn me, yes, I know,” she nodded, “I’m not blind, they also condemn Remy.  He and I committed the same crimes, and he isn’t handling it very well though.”

“It’s partially the X-men’s fault,” he muttered.

“I know,” she stated her eyes turning black for a moment, “I know.”

Logan cleared his throat and asked, “Do you want to go with me, Jubes, and Remy to the bar?  I know you can’t drink or anything but Jubes would like some girl company there.”

“Sure,” she stood up as he did, “I have nothing else to do.  I will go and change then.”

 

 

                                                ************

 

“De petites want someting to drink?  Remy’s buying,” he said as they entered the bar.

Aliana looked around, assessing the environment, finding herself in the middle of the worst crowd in the area and she had to grin.  A bunch of hell angel’s rejects and some truck drivers littered the area.  There was even a few women, though none that she would associate with that’s for sure.

“No, thanks, I can cover it,” she replied walking off as if she owned the place.

“I’ll take a daiquiri,” Jubilee grinned and noted the strange look on the Cajun’s face, hoping that she could get alcohol for once.

“Virgin daiquiri it is, chere,” he mumbled leaving her alone.

Aliana ordered bottled water, which earned her a snicker from the bartender.  She smiled coyly at him anyway as he handed her the drink.  She walked off and wandered around.  She soon found herself in trouble.

“You want to go home with me?” a male voice asked her from behind.

She turned around to face a large man and said, “Not really.”

She walked on and found herself watching Remy and Logan shooting pool.  She leaned against the table and smiled when Remy sunk a ball in the hole.  They were betting on who was going to win and she took no part in it. 

“So, your parents died like mine did?” Jubilee asked as she sucked down the frozen concoction.

“Yes, car accident,” Aliana stated, “You?”

“Murder,” the Chinese firecracker replied.

“I’m sorry,” she said sympathetically, “so you’ve been on the streets too, right?”

“Yeah, I didn’t know that you were though,” Jubilee looked at her in surprise, “how long?”

“Six years,” Aliana said simply, “learned more than any college would have taught me about life.”

“I hear ya,” the shorthaired girl nodded, “I was only on the streets for two years, but I know how it is.”

“There’s this huge man staring at me still,” Aliana replied suddenly, “I’m going to put some money in the juke box.”

She walked away and the three X-men just watched her as the large man followed close behind  They could tell that the man was very angry, probably from rejection, and the fact that he was drunk did not help the matters.  Had the man been sober, he would have realized just how dangerous his prey was.

Aliana set the jukebox to play Hoobastank’s “the Reason” and Remy said, “Dis should be interesting, neh?”

“Oh yeah,” Logan nodded and rested on his pool stick.

“Man, he is in for it!” Jubilee replied watching how utterly relaxed Aliana seemed as she chose the music to play.

“Poor bastard doesn’t even know what’s about to happen,” Logan shook his head as he smiled.

“Hey!” the fat man said from behind Aliana.

Aliana ignored him until the music started, “What do you want?”

“Nobody says “no” to me!” he growled pushing her into the jukebox.

“Oh, I didn’t say “no”,” she replied and the man loosened his grip on her, “I said “not really”, last I check that is totally different.”

He grabbed her neck and lifted her up.  She looked at him and her eyes slowly turned black.  She kicked him hard in the groin, he dropped her and she tumbled up to her feet.

After the fat man caught his breath, he lunged at her and she moved out of the way, kicking his butt in the process.  He crashed into some tables.  She brushed her hair away from her eyes and sensed someone coming up from behind her.

Leaping into the air, she landed behind the next man, pushing him down with a kick of her heel.  She sent an uppercut and blocked two guys at the same time, one flying up and crashing onto the table, the other crashing on top of another guy.  She grinned and tripped the next guy, knocking the air out of him as two more attacked her.

She did a back flip, kicking two men at the same time.  She pulled her hair up in a bun and waited for more, but everyone looked at the pile of men and then at her.  She smiled brilliantly at the men and grabbed her water bottle, taking a swig.

“Well, that was fun, no wonder you guys come here a lot,” she grinned.

“Are you happy with yourself?” Logan asked gruffly trying hard not to smile.

“Absolutely, Logan,” she grinned and threw her water bottle behind her, knocking out the man that was about to leap, “everyone should have this much fun.”

“You did an excellent job, mon chere, you didn’ even make much of a mess,” Remy commented smiling at her.

“Thank you, Remy,” she grinned, unaware that her eyes were still black, she shifted her eyes to look at the damage, “I always like a clean fight, it means I don’t have to pay for the bill.”

“You did a good job,” Logan stated, “you really mopped the floor with them.”

“Nah, I just directed their energies into a different area, they did all of the work,” she shrugged and winked, “I just helped them out a bit.”

Aliana tensed for a second and caught the dagger that was about to imbed itself into her, Remy took a hold of her arm, “Chere, we need to go now.”

She was enraged but she just nodded, following the Cajun mutant willingly.  It took her a few minutes to realize that she literally melted the dagger in her hand as she clutched on to it.  She took a few deep breaths, closing her eyes, willing herself to calm down.

“Thanks,” she murmured opening her eyes, “I was really close to burning the place down.”

“I noticed, chere,” he replied stroking her cheek with his hand, “you all right?”

“I’m all right,” she smiled, “I know they are all a lot better off now than I am.  I don’t do well when they start fighting dirty because then I start fighting dirty.  If I’m not careful…”

“Hey, chere, you stopped yourself,” he murmured pulling her into a hug and she hugged him, “I’m here for you, petite, just like you be dere for Remy.”

“Thank you,” she said against his chest, calming down significantly, as she listened to his heart beat, she pulled away and looked at the man with a gun, “Well, I guess I should do something, huh?”

Remy pulled out a card and charged with kinetic energy.  He threw the card at the gun and the gun exploded.  The man screamed in pain and Aliana crouched near him.

“Shh, calm down, I’m going to make you feel better,” she said in a soothing tone, she laid her hands above his injuries and began to heal the drunken man, “There, I’m done.”

The man stared at her for a second and ran off.  Aliana shook her head and rolled her eyes, “People are strange, I don’t think I’ll ever understand them.”

“You understand dem more dan I do, petite,” Remy replied walking up to her.

“I guess,” she looked over at Logan and Jubilee, “I’ve had enough fun for tonight, I think I’m going to sleep quite good tonight.  So how is Camille?”

“She’s good, petite,” he said running his fingers through his auburn hair.

“Good,” she smiled and looked at the two team members that lagged behind, “Ready to go, Logan?”

“Yep,” he grinned back at her and shook his head as splinters flew everywhere, “I don’t know about you guys, but I sure had fun.”

Aliana laughed and shook her head, “I have some weird friends.”

“You think of us as your friends?” Jubilee asked surprised as they got into the jeep.

“The closest ones I’ve had in the longest of times,” she replied playing with her long hair.

“Aaw, that’s so cool!” Jubilee exclaimed excitedly, “We’re sooo going shopping tomorrow.”

“But I don’t have a car,” Aliana said.

“That’s ok, Wolive will drive us,” the blue-eyed Asian stated with a wide grin.

“I’ll what?” Logan growled.

“You’re taking us to the mall, Wolvie, please,” Jubilee batted her eyes and pouted.

“Look, I don’t want to cause any problems,” Aliana replied making eye contact with Wolverine, “It’s okay.”

 

 

                                                ***************

 

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