Summery: A mutant with no memory (Talisman), is brought home with Rogue and Gambit. There seems to be a conflict with her and Mouse. It seems as if maybe Talisman is linked to the past, Mouse is trying so hard to hide and forget.

Author: Jennifer C. Laine

Have to keep fighting. Cannot let them win.

The two boys ran along the stream that followed a cliff. Soon it would lead into a larger body of water, but the boys wouldn¡¦t go that far, they had to stay close to their house. Lunch was soon and they were hungry. To ignore their thoughts of starvation, they had decided to play tag. The older of the two smacked his younger brother on the shoulder to say he was it and began to run, his younger brother had no chance of catching up to the faster and bigger of the two, but they still played.

Sonny, where was Sonny? She is dead! If I cannot find her, she is dead.

It didn¡¦t take long for their game to come to a grueling halt when they found the unconscious body. She lay there all crumpled up on the rocks, by the base of the cliff. Was she sleeping? Was she ok? Was she dead? The drying blood on the rock gave the children the idea to run back home screaming for their mother to get help.

Where was the ground? She must be dead.

It didn¡¦t take long for their mother to come to the aid of the fallen girl, and then to phone the ambulance. It took even less time for the family of three to accept the young girl into their home, once it became clear the girl was going to be okay and had absolutely no memories of her life. Of course everyone was curious as to why it looked like she had been fighting for her life, so many cuts and bruises, they couldn¡¦t all have been caused from the fall off the cliff. She recovered quickly a few days after her fall. In a week she felt like a new person, like one of the family. She finally understood what a home was. But why didn¡¦t she before? She couldn¡¦t remember. Only fragments of her last few thoughts before falling, went constantly through her mind. But she didn¡¦t want to talk about that with anyone.

Don¡¦t leave me alone. Do go! I am so scared. Blackness

Talisman, it was the only name she could think of to be hers. She had amnesia and had had it for the last few weeks since her fall. She knew the name of Talisman from a tattoo found on her left arm. It had ¡¦Talisman¡¦ written in neat gothic letters.

Talisman was a softly tanned girl of average height. She had light brown hair that showed hints of being red and dark brown eyes with tints of green, but her eyes also showed something more, they showed confusion.

A couple of kids had found her at the base of a cliff; there she had hit her head on a rock. They told her that she must have been hiking and tripped at the base of the cliff, she couldn¡¦t have fallen, and no normal person could have survived a fall like that. However, she didn¡¦t feel very normal, and truly suspected that she had fallen off the cliff and not just tripped, however unlikely that sounded. And when a group of five of the most amazing people she had ever laid eyes on, approached her, she had then felt very special¡¦ for a moment at least.

The five people all wore long black trench coats, black pants and combat boots, and they all had a different style of shirt on, either of a different colour, fabric or design. Also, they all wore identical pendants around their necks on silver chains and had tattoos and or a piercing on them. To Talisman they didn¡¦t look like punks, but of something-different altogether, something very familiar.

The shortest one approached her, he was a boy who was taller than her with blond hair and blue eyes, she immediately found him attractive. On his forehead was a tattooed word, but she couldn¡¦t understand it, even though it seemed so familiar.

"Talisman," he said with a soft and soothing voice. "You have broken our laws and must come with us."

She paused. They knew her. "I think I should tell the family I¡¦m staying with-"

The man grabbed her wrist with such force it caused her to forget what she was going to say and cringe. Suddenly she realized just what he had said to her, she had tuned out before, when he had said her name. But he had also said she had broken their laws. What were their laws? And how had she broken them?

Oh God, she thought. Am I in a gang?

She struggled to get away from him, but his grip only got tighter. She looked around for some help, any help, and in the distance she saw some. There was a couple just rounding the corner. Gaining her courage she screamed out for help, and kneed the boy holding her wrist, right where it counted. He let go and doubled over in pain, but was soon back on his feet, with his four friends who were beginning to chase after her.

"Got to reach that couple," she thought aloud.

Suddenly she could feel someone grab her legs and tackling her to the ground. She tried to get up but their grip was too tight. Another person came over and grabbed her by the waist and lifted her off the ground. She kicked them in the shins but their grip didn¡¦t loosen once. She then twisted around and started scratching at the offender¡¦s eyes like a cat. He let go immediately.

Though this time, she didn¡¦t try to run. She didn¡¦t have to either. The couple she had seen was now by her side. The woman of the of the two had long red hair with a white streak down the front, she moved like lightening and pushed away the person who was about to attack her next as if he was a feather in her way.

Suddenly she felt someone grab her waist again. She screamed as loud as she could, but he covered her mouth. Turning and running into an alley, he put the girl down. She turned around to see how she could escape her attackers, there was no need to, he was the man from the couple that she had seen.

"Gambit won¡¦t harm you, petite," he said with a strong Cajun accent. "You stay here, k? Gambit take care of dem bullies."

All she could do was nod slowly as the man ran around the corner again to rejoin his lady friend.

The woman was trying to fight off the five people without seriously hurting them, but they didn¡¦t seem to hurt easily. They¡¦d stop for a second to regain their wits and then attack again. She was beginning to loose her patience.

A blast suddenly came from her left side, blowing three of the attackers away.

"Thanks sugah," she said to him in a southern accent. "But ah was doing just fine by mahself."

Turning back to where the five people were now standing, she noticed something peculiar, they were gone. Turning back to the Cajun she shrugged. "Must have been scared."

A shaky voice came from the alley. "Uh¡¦ Gambit?" Talisman had guessed that that was the Cajun¡¦s name.

"Oui petite?"

She came from around the corner with her hands in her pocket, "Thanks."

Gambit looked at his companion, "She look a lot like de other attackers, n¡¦est pas chere?"

"I¡¦ I think I was a member of their gang¡¦ or clan¡¦ or whatever," Talisman said shyly, not too sure who these saviours were, but nervous around them because she was so grateful.

"You think?" The woman asked.

"I¡¦ I can¡¦t remember anything. I hit my head a few weeks back and got amnesia."

"Oh, ah see. Well mah name¡¦s Rogue, in case ya were wondering. Ah guess you¡¦ve already met Gambit. Maybe you should get on home now."

"Yeah¡¦ makes sense. Thank you," she wanted to stay with them a bit more, but she also just wanted to get home.

"Pas de problem petite."

The couple then turned to leave. Talisman just stood there watching them for a second, smiling to herself. Finally she turned around to go home herself and bumped into someone¡¦s chest, a very familiar chest. She looked up only to see the face of the man whose eye she had tried to claw out minutes before.

Before she could scream his hand came up. Whether it was to hit her or to grab her, it didn¡¦t matter. What did was that she was scared and couldn¡¦t do anything to stop him. Keeping her eyes on the arm that started to come down on her, she tried to scream and instead felt something like an intense heat come from her head directed at his arm. His arm stopped in mid air.

"What the f-!?" The man screamed out but was cut off.

Suddenly the man was in the air being carried by Rogue. Talisman managed a smile before she felt someone hit her head, hard. It had been weeks and the wound was barely still there from her fall, but something about people touching her head now made her have this feeling of dizziness, like right now, but before she could do something stupid like faint, she felt herself being picked up.

After a minute, the dizziness passed. She then looked down. This would be noted by Talisman, as being the second dumbest thing she had done all day. The first was going out at all to go downtown, but then again, everything happens for a reason. But that didn¡¦t help much to reassure her at that moment. The second was to allow herself to be HIGH up in the air. When she looked down she could see small things going by fast. Not things¡¦ buildings. Buildings!? Her surroundings then became clear; Rogue was carrying her and flying. Flying very high.

It was then that a strange and a new sense of fear hit her.

"PUT ME DOWN!" Talisman started to struggle in Rogue¡¦s arms.

Rogue held on to her more tightly. "Calm down sugah. Ah ain¡¦t gonna hurt ya, but if you keep struggling like that, ya could fall."

She became very stiff at the mention of the word ¡¦fall¡¦. Closing her eyes as tightly as she could and grabbing Rogue even tighter, was the only thing she could do to keep herself from screaming. Just what had she got herself into now?

A small shadow of a figure graced the ceiling, as it slowly made its way closer to its destination. She could smell her enemy as she drew nearer. There was no escape this time. Mouse had been surveying her opponent for the last half an hour, he would not win this time. Revenge would be hers. Softly scurrying like well¡¦. a mouse, she moved herself closer, closer. He was in the kitchen, she had him now. Her mutant ability gave her the power to hear and smell better than the average human, but then again her opponent was no average human. How dare he go behind her back, he would pay for this.

Mouse finally reached the kitchen door, as she hung from the ceiling. She didn¡¦t have much time to act before he discovered she was there. As quickly as she could she sprung from behind, knocking him, but making sure the precious parcel he held was not damaged. But he had been expecting her. He quickly extended his claws to ward his attacker off. She was not frayed one bit. Using some techniques he himself had taught her, she was able to get him on the ground. She didn¡¦t waste anytime, while he was down she grabbed the precious packaged and began to flee. Just as she was about to leave she heard laughing from behind her. In fact 2 people laughing.

"WHAT? What¡¦s so funny"

"Ooo ha ha ha, you Liebchen, Wolverine made that Poutine for you. He would have given it to you anyway. Ha ha ha "

"NO way Elf, seeing her attack me for some grub was the highlight of my day. Why do you think I didn¡¦t tell her, I even made sure the whole house smelled of Poutine. Besides it just shows me she needs to still work on her stealth attack, if I can call it that. Ha ha ha"

" Laugh it up, but I am the one holding the Poutine." Mouse said as smugly as she could.

" Actually, I made enough for the Elf and me too, but knowing as how much Elf hates Poutine, it just means more for me."

The three X-Men then started to walk head outside with their Poutine and Root Beer, a truly Canadian meal.

"Ach, how can you eat that Scheisse? Root Beer taste like bad medicine and Poutine feels like I am eating pure fat."

Mouse, of course, had to rise to his insults on Canadian cuisine. "Hey just cause you can¡¦t appreciate real food, doesn¡¦t mean you get to call it bad German words. You better be careful or I will have to force feed the stuff to you."

"Yuck, please anything but that. You can burn my stuff, try to kill me, even torture me, though with you that could be fun, but I could not live another day eating that¡¦that¡¦food, as you seem to call it."

"Watch it, Bud!" Wolverine smiled, he had actually been having a good last few weeks. He needed someone to bug ever since Jubilee had left for Generation-X, and Elf picking on another Canadian was just perfect. Though in a week¡¦s time Jubilee would be back and not only could he bug her, but he could also he gang up with her to bug Elf. Life was really looking good.

Wolverine, Mouse and Nightcrawler continued walking through the mansion hallways. The three had barely made it out the door before they saw Gambit run into the building, almost smashing into Wolverine and spilling his precious Poutine all over the place.

"Watch it Gumbo!" The Canadian yelled.

"Sorry, mon amie, but I must find Beast."

"Why?" Mouse asked with her curiosity kicking in. Gambit didn¡¦t recognize the girl immediately, he then realized she must be the new girl who arrived about the time he left to go on vacation.

"Me an¡¦ Rogue rescued a girl, an¡¦ we bringing her here, I got to get the Beast to help her."

With that the Cajun was off, he went down the hallway heading in the direction of the med. lab.

"He is whipped, nein?" Nightcrawler said trying to make a certain someone laugh.

Mouse looked at him and smiled, "The only person around here who is going to be ¡¦whipped¡¦ is you if you keep up that attitude. Common let¡¦s go see if we can help out in some way."

"Ja, we should, but lets not forget your promise to whip me, if I misbehave." Mouse just sighed loudly, there was no winning with this boy, he could dish em out as just as fast as she could, if not more.

"Common Elf, leave the kid alone, or would you like to see what I can do with a whip" Wolverine said smiling though his sharp teeth.

"Nein, nein, that¡¦s ok, Mouse is right let¡¦s go see if we can help."

With that the three hurried on down to the med. lab.

* * * * * * * * * *

 

They had walked for a few seconds before they encountered a distressed Rogue standing over a young girl in a black jacket very similar to that of Mouse¡¦s.

"C¡¦mon sugah, ah promise to never do that¡¦ again, but please come on, be ok" she pleaded with the sleeping figure. "Last time ah had no choice. Ah just had to get ya out of there and it seemed to be the only way.

"I¡¦m never moving again," came the soft reply of a very scared girl. She lay there curled in a tight ball. Talisman didn¡¦t know much about her life, but something was now clear, she was also afraid of heights. She never wanted her feet or head for that matter to leave the ground again. She didn¡¦t care if they had to drag her around for the rest of her life.

"C¡¦mon, let¡¦s go into the mansion."

Mansion? Why was that so familiar? She knew it was a big house, but there was a familiar feeling. Maybe she had lived in one before, but the word felt important. Maybe she should go in. Talisman slowly moved her head so it faced Rogue. "Ok," she said reluctantly. "But give me a sec."

"Alright sugah."

Get up! She yelled in her mind over and over again. She could walk; she¡¦d just been doing it. But she had never had to fly or even go higher than a meter off the ground¡¦ or less¡¦ if she didn¡¦t want to. All she had to do was go to the mansion and maybe she¡¦d find something or someone there that she recognized. Maybe then she¡¦d get her memory back; she just needed to get up.

She got onto her knees still keeping her head close to the ground when she felt a hand take her arm. "Let me help assist you," a man said in a very sophisticated voice.

Talisman looked around at the people now standing around her. Two blue people (blue people?), Rogue, Gambit, a short man with black hair, and a girl. The girl shocked her the most. She was wearing the same thing as she was, so to speak. Same coat, pants and boots, different shirt. Talisman¡¦s was black and covering all of her stomach, while the other girl¡¦s was a dark blue and showed a nice tattoo surrounding her belly button. And she was wearing the same pendant as the five people who had attacked her, the same as hers. At first Talisman thought this girl must be one of them, but it was obvious her saviours didn¡¦t seem to fear her. So why should she. "Do I know you?" she asked.

"Would explain the resemblance non?" Gambit said, finally noticing that there was a resemblance to talk about. But Talisman ignored his words, keeping her attention on the mouse of a girl. She looked to be in shock. Her black eyes were wide open as if she had seen a ghost. Her features quickly changed into anger.

"I have never seen you before in my entire life," she answered Talisman rudely. The group could see the obvious disappointment in Talisman¡¦s brown eyes.

She then nodded sadly and let the large blue sophisticated man lead her into the mansion and then to the med. lab. Once there, she took off her coat and sat on the bed, as directed by the man.

"So why am I here?"

"Rogue says she has reason to believe you are a mutant."

"A mutant eh?" She knew what it meant, a person who was born ¡¦differently¡¦ and able to do amazing things. The people she had been staying with had been very prejudice against them. This meant she could forget about going home. She sighed, another home lost.

"Why does she think that?"

"You stopped a man from hitting you without even touching him."

She paused, the heat inside her head, the power, she had felt. She could move things with her mind? "Wow," was all she was able to say.

"We have been receiving many new visitors lately, or so it seems. Well at least Kurt is not hovering over my shoulder, like last time. I would hate to have to sedate him." The man smiled. "My name is Dr. Hank McCoy, please, call me Hank."

Nightcrawler then stuck his head into the room." Stars and Garters, not again!"

"Just checking to see if she was alright," Hank growled at him. Kurt just gave him an evil smile and left the room soundlessly.

Hank then turned to his young patient and smiled again, "phew, I was worried for a second."

"Ha, I am guessing that was Kurt. My name¡¦s Talisman¡¦ I think. I have amnesia and it¡¦s my tattoo, and those guys after me called me it too. Maybe it¡¦s a nickname or maybe even my actual name."

"Or a pet¡¦s perhaps?"

"Uh¡¦ yeah, maybe."

"Do you realize, that you are wearing almost the identical outfit as the young lady you met outside, Mouse? Yet she denies knowing you. How strange."

"Well she¡¦s not the first person I¡¦ve met wearing that today, maybe it¡¦s a new fashion wave."

"Perhaps." Hank then looked down and noticed that Talisman had on a similar pendant as Mouse¡¦s. " May I see your pendant?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure."

Hank reached out and gently took the pendant in his large hand. He had been wrong, it wasn¡¦t similar at all, it was identical, just like Mouse¡¦s. On one side it had a dragon with an eye close to that of the Egyptian Ra¡¦s eye, and on the other, the word ¡¦Weisheit".

"Ah, just as I thought."

"What?"

"You have the same pendant as Mouse. I think she may be lying, as to not knowing you,."

"What do you mean? I¡¦I don¡¦t understand."

"I think that perhaps these pendants are connected to a clan or gang or even a family of some sort."

"Actually, so do I. those people who attacked me, they were wearing the same things as me¡¦ and they said I broke their laws."

"Interesting. Maybe this is a key to the past that Mouse is trying so hard to hide from us. Perhaps you two were in some sort of gang."

"I¡¦m really starting to get the feeling that I should have stayed in bed today."

Hank smiled again. Talisman was reassured by this man¡¦s smile and light humour. He had a very caring, fatherly nature to him. He was so nice, everyone here was, and maybe she had found some friends that could help her remember her past.

"Thank you Hank," she said hugging him.

"Whatever for?"

She drew back, "For being here to talk to."

* * * * * * * * *

 

Mouse stood over the now sleeping body of Talisman. Her past had finally caught up with her. She knew this was going to happen eventually, but not like this, and definitely not with her. How could she be here? What¡¦s dead should stay dead. How dare Talisman come back now, just when she was starting to accept what she had done. Finally life had a meaning again, she had finally gotten Talisman and the others out of her mind. And now she was here. It didn¡¦t matter that she was alive at all. She didn¡¦t care anymore. What if she led the others to her, then what? She wanted her past to go away, stay away. She would just have to make her go away. But then again, Talisman had no memory, if Talisman could remember anything, she would be trying to get revenge on Mouse, not just living up the good life. With amnesia they were both safe. Besides, Mouse didn¡¦t particularly like the idea of condemning someone to their death¡¦ not for a second time anyway. Maybe if she could just keep the past from her¡¦

Mouse looked down at Talisman¡¦s neck. She could see the chain that no one else had discovered in their examinations of her. It seemed like Talisman hadn¡¦t thought to really read it, or she would be going by a different name right now. Mouse reached down and unclasped the dog tags that were hanging around Talisman¡¦s neck under her shirt, and pocketed them. Mouse needed the dog tags more than she did.

She then looked upon the sleeping body and said sadly, "Sorry¡¦ but I cannot let them find me."

With that she left the room and started walking down the hall towards her own room. Maybe she could convince Talisman that this wasn¡¦t the place for her, but exactly how much did she need to hide about her past? Did she have to ruin someone else¡¦s life by doing so? She¡¦d soon find out.

 They stood in front of everyone. Accusing eyes at all sides. I am sorry. Nobody was on their side. We are damned. I am sorry. Let me live. I am different. , but I am. We are. Leave and die stay and die. It is the law. But the law must be broken. Survival. Only one penalty for breaking the law¡¦

"I love you"

I love you too.

"Leave now"

I don't want to.

"Leave!"

Pain, so much pain

Talisman woke up and immediately started crying. She had these dreams almost every night. Always the same confusing pain. It meant something tonight though. What had the five people said? That she had broken their laws. That¡¦s what the dream said. They broke the law to survive. But what law? And who are "we"? C. R. Hanes. Now that was a name she knew¡¦ but it wasn¡¦t hers. The name was written on her dog tags. She had no idea whose dog tags they really were, only that they didn¡¦t really belong to her. Nobody was in the military around her age¡¦ whatever that was, she guessed she couldn¡¦t be to old, sixteen, seventeen. Maybe it belonged to one of her parent¡¦s. So then was her last name Hanes? No, that just didn¡¦t sound right.

453 694 440

CR HANES

ACC A/RH/N

CND FRCES CND

She or the person this belonged to was obviously Canadian. That¡¦s all she knew, that it was a Canadian Forces¡¦ dog tag. She put her hand to her neck and looked to it now to comfort her. Her hand found only her pendant. Beginning to worry she started to look on the desk, on the floor and finally started throwing things around. How could this happen? She must have lost it in the fight.

"No!" She fell to her knees and banged on the floor. She was so mad. How could she have been so stupid!?

The door flew open and Rogue and a lady with long purple hair walked in. She jumped at Rogue and started shaking her clothed shoulders violently.

"I can¡¦t find it!"

"Whoa sugah, calm down. Can¡¦t find what?"

"My dog chains! I must have lost them in the fight! We have to go find them!"

"Now just one second. It¡¦s two in the mornin¡¦ and you want to go look for some necklace downtown.

"Don¡¦t you get it!? All I have is what I wear! That ¡¦necklace¡¦ is a key to my past, one which I can¡¦t remember!"

She pushed her hands off her shoulders. "Ah understand sugah, but maybe ya should wait for the morning."

"Wait," the second woman finally spoke up.

"What is it Phylocke?"

"Someone was in here?"

"Someone stole it? Can ya tell who?"

"No, their traces were covered. It¡¦s a mental block."

"Maybe someone can smell it out."

"I¡¦ll try to contact Mouse, I wouldn¡¦t like to have to wake up Wolverine at this time of night, not very healthy like for me."

"Why would someone steal it?" Talisman asked almost shocked.

"Ah have no clue."

"Would anybody here steal things?"

"Well¡¦ ah do admit we have a thief here¡¦ but he wouldn¡¦t steal a necklace¡¦ wait. Was it valuable?"

"It was a dog tag, I doubt it. But it was valuable to me."

"I doubt he stole it then."

"Who¡¦s ¡¦he¡¦?"

Before Rogue could answer Mouse walked into the room, she looked quite irritated in her tired mood. She walked over to Phylocke and looked deep into her eyes.

"You summoned!" she asked in the most sarcastic voice she could muster.

"What do you smell?"

"You," she said, starting to get annoyed.

"No, what other people. Talisman¡¦s dog tags were stolen for some reason and we¡¦re hoping to find out who stole them, so we can all get some sleep."

Mouse looked at the three people staring at her. She was to close to being caught. Maybe she should have hidden her trace better. It didn¡¦t matter, she could lie her way out of this one. But was that right? What would Kurt think of her telling all these lies? No, she would just get away with this one lie, and then they get on with their normal lives¡¦ or at least what she felt was a normal life.

"I only smell you guys, no one else. Whoever was here, left a while ago. Sorry Talisman."

She then turned and left the room, followed by the also very tired Phylocke. Rogue went to Talisman and put her hand on her shoulder. "It¡¦s ok sugah, ah know that necklace meant somethin¡¦ to ya, but it¡¦s gone and maybe you should just forget it."

Talisman nodded, it was all she could do. She wasn¡¦t sad really. Just confused. She had thought the X-Men were so nice and then one of them steals her necklace? But then again maybe it wasn¡¦t an X-Man at all. Maybe there was more to it than this. She went back to her bed in an attempt to sleep, but she never could get back to sleep after she woke up. Hopefully neither Rogue, Phylocke or Mouse shared in this same problem.

Talisman wandered into the danger room. Hank had told her she could go wandering around the mansion, saying nobody would care. He had mentioned the danger room and how she should stay away from it until she was ready. But if there was one thing she knew about herself it was that there was no end to her curiosity.

She had pressed some buttons on the control panel and walked into it. At first it looked as if there was nothing in the room. But in the corner her eye she caught the site of a rack of something. Upon closer inspection she realized what they were, Swords. She had never seen a sword in the life, or at least she thought she hadn¡¦t. But then it was also the most familiar thing she had seen so far. Though she didn¡¦t know why.

She picked the sword up, it felt so right in her hand. It belonged there. She twirled it around in the air for a while trying to remember something, but nothing came. This was pointless; maybe the rest of the mansion was more fun. Before she could turn she heard a voice.

"Are you sure you should be here, meine Freundin?"

She turned around in surprise almost dropping her deadly sword.

"Don¡¦t do that! I¡¦ve been so on edge lately, it¡¦s not funny."

"Sorry," Nightcrawler apologized, he hadn¡¦t really meant to scare her. He had really just come to here to blow off some steam. He was getting more and more confused about the way he felt about someone special to him. He needed time to think, and he always thought better with a sword in his hand. "Maybe you shouldn¡¦t be here though. If you are so ¡¦on edge¡¦ lately."

"I was just wandering around¡¦ this place looked interesting. I was just about to-"

"Do you know how to use that?" He asked cutting her off.

"Uh¡¦ I¡¦m not sure. Feels familiar."

"Well let¡¦s see just how good you are."

Nightcrawler walked over to the rack and picked up the sword in the middle. He then turned to Talisman and after a couple of seconds lunged towards her. She immediately blocked the attack and he backed off.

"Nice move Talisman, let¡¦s see if you can keep it up," and with that he attacked again.

Wolverine wandered into the control room of the danger room to see if it was free. To his great displeasure it wasn¡¦t. How in their right mind, besides him, would be here at this time of night. As he looked into the danger room he could see Nightcrawler and someone else sparing, but with who? Looking closer he could see that it was Talisman.

What was she doing in here? Kinda new to be starting in the danger room, and at this time! But then again what could a harmless ¡¦paring¡¦ game do to anyone? So Wolverine decided to watch instead of actually working out.

Nightcrawler brought the sword down just missing her left arm before she did a 180 and swung her sword at his legs. He jumped up and she only hit air. To both their surprises, she was better than they expected. So far Nightcrawler had been playing the offensive and her the defense, but in a change of attitude she came on him stronger pushing him back.

"Kurt," he thought to himself. "You¡¦re loosing."

Their swords clashed hard making a perfected metal sound. Nightcrawler¡¦s shoulder hit the wall and took him by surprise; he was so far back already. Talisman put all her force in the next blow and it sent his sword flying. But he wasn¡¦t ready to quit yet. Before Talisman could hit him again he flipped into the air and landed by his sword.

"I didn¡¦t know you could do that," she said in awe.

"You didn¡¦t ask, meine Freundin," he said picking his sword up and coming at her again.

Again their swords clashed only this time nobody played offence or defense. They both took their turns blocking and throwing all they had to the other opponent. It seemed they were equally good.

Wolverine sat in the control room quite impressed. He wished someone were here to bet with. But who would he pick? He¡¦s known Kirk longer, so most likely him. But she seemed to be his match in swordplay.

The two blades clashed and held as they both tried to push the other¡¦s sword away¡¦ or into them for that matter. Sweat was running down their faces and they were starting to get tired. It was obvious the only way someone would win was if the other one got tired faster.

Talisman brought her sword back in a unexpected movement and managed to flip Nightcrawler over her as she fell on her back. She got back up with grace and went after the fallen opponent only to find him missing. She looked around for a sec until she heard a *BAMF* to her right. Without thinking she swung her sword in that direction. The blade stopped as Nightcrawler blocked it but she still heard a small yelp, as she turned to him she saw that she had almost got him where it really counts.

He flipped over the sword and was ready to take her off guard when suddenly he couldn¡¦t move.

"You use your powers, I use mine."

She began to swing her sword at him when it suddenly disappeared and she fell off balance. Nightcrawler was able to move now, grabbed his sword and kneeling, held it to her throat.

Her had a growl under his breath, "You were not playing fair, meine Freundin."

"Hey, you were disappearing, that wasn¡¦t fair. Besides, I wasn¡¦t actually gonna hurt you. I was just¡¦ messing around."

After a moment Nightcrawler rolled over and lay on his back, "You are a good fighter in any case, meine Freundin."

"Thanks, you¡¦re not too shabby yourself," she began to smile to herself when she suddenly heard clapping coming from the door.

"Bravo," Wolverine said in a pleasing voice. "Looks like Nightcrawler met his match¡¦ so to speak. Lucky the ol¡¦canucklehead was here to save him.

"I was wondering why my sword disappeared," Talisman said standing up. "I think I¡¦m gonna get back to my walk. See you guys later."

Wolverine walked over to Nightcrawler and helped him up as she left. "Well there Elf, couldn¡¦t even handle a girl eh?"

"She¡¦s stronger than she looks," Nightcrawler said.

"Yeah I know, wonder what Mouse has against her?"

Nightcrawler looked at Wolverine confused. "What do you mean, mein Freund?"

"When she first showed up, Mouse got all quiet for the rest of the day, she looked mad¡¦ or kinda sad actually."

"Maybe Talisman beat her in a sparing match, you know how much Mouse hates to lose."

"I could see that. But no, has to be something deeper."

Talisman sat under a tree in the front yard. She had finished her tour of the mansion and finally went outside to read a bit. She had met a boy named Bobby Drake who had decided to help her on the tour even though she repeatedly told him to go away (as nicely as possible of course). Despite how annoying he was, he did try to make her laugh. He got brownie points for that. But if she ever had to put up with that again¡¦ gods have mercy on his soul. She had taken the first book she could find and was getting into it. The book was called "The Hobbit", even though she seemed to know what would happen next she loved it. Maybe she had read it in her past life, as she liked to call it.

She had learned about how Wolverine had his amnesia since before they had found him. Would she be like that? Never knowing what had happened before she got here? Always trying to figure it out and getting to the point where she recognized everything and yet she still knew nothing¡¦ she hoped not. Either way she felt like her life had begun again.

The fight with Nightcrawler yesterday had been interesting. It seemed she had more control over her power than she thought¡¦ and she could sword-fight very well. Maybe her parents had been rich or something and had singed her up for sword lessons. That would explain why the mansion was so familiar. It wouldn¡¦t explain her eyebrow ring and tattoo. Maybe she had run away and joined the gang. That made sense. So why¡¦d she run away? If her parents were right would they be in the army? Were they a high rank? She was so confused.

She finished the book and put it down. The sun was so bright. She should go in. Although she didn¡¦t mind getting tanned, getting so tanned you were pretty much orange, or worse getting burnt didn¡¦t appeal to her. She picked up her book and began to walk back to the mansion. She had put her clothes away and was wearing something Rogue had lent her. Short blue jean shorts and a dark purple tank top. Talisman found it odd for Rogue to own something like this, when she heard of Rogue¡¦s powers and how scared Rogue was of using them. She still wore her Pendant and many earrings because they were after all just jewelry. She had five piercing in each ear. She also had a tattoo by her right eye. It was so small she had actually never noticed until she was changing today. The tattoo was imitating Egyptian makeup. At the edge of her eye were two lines about a cm long, the bottom one going straight and the other curling up. It was so pale that she also borrowed some black eyeliner from Rogue and traced over it. It gave a certain feature to her face that told anyone there was a mystery about her, and well there was.

She walked into the mansion and found the bookshelf where she had found the book in the first place; beside it were the three sequels. She¡¦d have to read those later, maybe even tomorrow. Right now she needed some lunch. She hadn¡¦t eaten all day.

A knock came at the door but she kept going to the kitchen. She heard another knock. Where was everybody? She sighed and turned around to go answer the door. Maybe everyone had gone out shopping, that was a lot of people then. Maybe they were on one of those missions everyone talked so much about. Or maybe just in school. That is what this place was.

Opening the door Talisman saw a girl standing there looking like she was going to cry. She had long purple hair just past her shoulders. She also had the most alluring green eyes. It was a pity to see them glazed over with tears. She stood at about 5¡¦4", just a little shorter than she was. She finally turned to look at her after what seemed like an eternity.

The stranger stood there in shock and suddenly she didn¡¦t look so sad anymore.

"Petra!" She yelled and raped her arms around Talisman.

Talisman stood there for a second and finally hugged her back. She was wearing the same thing as her only she had an army green shirt on. Did she know her? Was she her friend? The smell of roses slowly came to her. It was the girl who smelt like roses, it was such a nice name.

Roses, they were so familiar.

Roses¡¦that smell was so familiar, she could almost touch the memory¡¦just then like a brick wall it all came back to her. In a startled cry all Talisman, now Petra, was able to pronounce was a single name¡¦

"Alexis!?"

To be continued in The Book of Thorn

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