Disclaimer: I don’t own X-men or Marvel, clearly.

Summary: A look into Lorna Dane, just before she joined The Scorned. If you are a fan of Alex Masters/Summers, or enjoy them together, I suggest not reading this.

A thanks to everyone who has ever reviewed my scorned fics, this is dedicated to all of you!

Cold

“Alex, come on, you’re going to get yourself killed.” Lorna Dane spoke with a smug smile as she watched him get his surf board ready to go into the deep waters of the ocean before them. He looked back at her, returning the same expression.

“I’ll be fine.” He assured. “I’ve surfed through worse storms than this.”

“Yeah, but your big brother was there, wasn’t he?” Lorna responded as she began to tie her hair back. She placed her hands on her hips. “I’m going out there with you.”

“No, you’re not experienced, just stay back.” He told her sternly. “Can’t have my girl getting hurt.”

Lorna grinned. “Fine, but when you get back, and you will get back because if you hurt yourself out there your parents are going to ground you forever, we’re going to see a movie.”

“Fine, fine.” Alex gestured. Lorna sighed and came closer to him. She gave him a small kiss on the cheek for some sort of good luck charm. She always did that before he went out surfing, mostly because it made her feel better. The only time he had ever almost drowned out there was when she didn’t give him a kiss for luck. Though it was silly, it did make her feel less worried when he went to surf against the waves.

Lorna watched her boyfriend finally get into the waters. She folded her arms across her chest, hugging herself as some sort of comfort. She always had to do something when she watched him. She didn’t like the looks of the water, but there was no use nagging Alex for something he was going to do anyways. That’s one of the things she loved about him. He didn’t back down from something because of fear, or what any one said. He just did it.

Lorna knelt down to her beach bag and grabbed her video camera. She turned it on and focused on Alex so she could get a better view of what he was doing, and if he was being careful. Of course he was fine, just like usual.

Suddenly, one of the waves behind him rushed up on him, knocking him from his surf board. Lorna cringed, her eyes not tearing away from the lens. She waited for him to rise back up to his board, but he wasn’t coming up.

“ALEX?” she called, hoping he would jump up out of the water and smirk at her. He liked to do that sometimes, but always when the ocean was calm, never when he could actually get killed.

“ALEX!” she screamed again. There was still no answer. Lorna bit her lip, putting her camera back in her back. She pulled off her beach skirt, stripping down to her jade green bathing suit. She immediately dove into the water, feeling the cold rush at once.

The current was strong, yeah, but she wasn’t going to let her boyfriend drown. She had to save him, had to make sure he was okay.

“ALEX!” she yelled, looking around. She caught glimpse of his surf board. She swam rapidly to go to it. When she finally could rest upon it, she dove under the water, seeing him sinking. Her eyes widened and she swam until she could feel his arm in her hand. She winced, needing to breathe. She dragged him up the best she could, hoping he would be okay. He had to be fine. He was Alex Masters, no Alex Summers now. He wasn’t going to die. If his brother could save him, so could she.

She gasped as she noticed an immense wave approaching them. She grabbed a tighter hold onto Alex and began to shoot up into the air. She winced in shock, wondering how she was even doing this.

“Oh my god.” She whispered to herself, trying to get a control of the flight she was experiencing. It was weird and free all that once. She grimaced, focusing on getting Alex safe. It didn’t matter that she was flying, even if it did give some explanation as to why her hair was natural green, all she cared about was saving Alex. He was her life and she wasn’t going to lose him.

That was when she toppled back into the water. Lorna rolled her eyes. That couldn’t have happened at a worse time. She sighed and noticed his board as quite close to them. She placed Alex on top of it and began to swim the both of them to shore.

When Lorna finally got him back to land, she started mouth to mouth resuscitation at once. Her eyes softened when it didn’t seem to be working. She reached over for her bag and grabbed her phone. She dialed for help and then sat there.

She memorized him as she sat there sopping wet in the sand. She could feel tears coming down her face. She tried to wake him again, but he still wouldn’t move. She touched his face with her hand, allowing her tears to drop all over him.

“C’mon, Alex. You’re better than this. You can wake up.” She whimpered. Lorna leaned down to his chest to see if she could hear his heart beat. Thankfully it was. Her expression changed when she realized he was starting to breathe. A wide smile appeared on her face. He was alive, just unconscious. She had saved his life.

“I love you.” She mumbled just as the help she had called for earlier arrived.

It had been a few days since Lorna had pulled Alex from the deep clutches of the ocean, and he was still knocked out. The doctors said he was suffering from a concussion and still had a bit of water in his lungs. It was possible he could be knocked out only for another day or so. Whatever the means, Lorna seemed to make it her duty to be at his side every free moment she had.

Of course she did have her own life, and school to attend so it was getting quite difficult. Homework was starting to pile on and her parents were trying to keep her from going to the hospital so much. However, the young girl still went.

“Alex?” Lorna poked as she quietly entered his room. She saw the somber faces of his adoptive parents so carefully watching over their son. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s fine.” Alex’s mother assured her. “He’s doing a lot better than this morning.”

“Yes, you can go home and sleep for awhile. He’s going to be alright.” Mr. Masters added. Lorna shook her head and firmly sat down in the nearest chair. She heard Alex’s parents mumble something about Scott Summers before getting up to leave. Lorna gave a half smile, drawing in closer to her boyfriend.

“Hi you.” She greeted, trying to maintain a ray of sunshine in her voice. She clasped onto his hands, squeezing them as tight as she could.

“You know, he’s going to be fine. It’s not like he was shot or anything.” A voice sneered. Lorna rolled her eyes, looking up to see one of the hospital volunteers. The one that stood before her was named Annie. Lorna knew nothing of her besides the fact that Annie always seemed to be checking in on him, and that she really hadn’t taken a liking to her.

“I know.” Lorna defended. “I’m his girlfriend and I want to be there when he wakes up.”

“Visiting hours are up.” Annie sighed as she began fluffing Alex’s pillows. “And you’re not his family; you’re just his girlfriend, so I suggest you get home. You probably have things to do.”

Lorna eyed her getting up to take a leave. When she exited the room she walked up the nurses’ station and waited for someone to talk to her.

“May we help you?” the oldest nurse asked in a sickly sweet tone. Lorna shifted her eyes back to Alex’s hospital room, then up to the nurse again.

“Can you tell me about that volunteer…Annie?” she asked. “Is she always here?”

“Of course.” The nurse replied. “Annie loves taking care of people. Her mother works here you know. Annie’s always saying that she’d love to be a nurse someday.”

“So, she’s always around Alex?” Lorna basically repeated.

“Yes, and between me and you, I think she’s a little smitten with the poor kid.” the nurse replied. Lorna gave her a low nod before disappearing into one of the elevators. She shivered, folding her arms. She wished she had a sweater around her. She wanted to feel comfortable, and not so insecure about what was going on. Her eyes watered. She felt like such a baby. She was almost to tears because of some nurse had said something about Annie liking Alex.

Lorna wiped her eyes and forced a smile. Even if that girl did like Alex, it wasn’t as if he would like her back. Unconscious people tended to not notice the world around them anyways.

When the elevator door opened, she stepped out. She took a look back, her eyes widening when she realized the elevator looked extremely bent out of shape. The only thing that could possibly fit in there now was a girl her size.

“Okay, I’m losing it.” she assured herself as she continued on out of the hospital, unaware that the elevator had just resumed its normal form. She sighed and began walking home. She felt so cold. Ever since she had left Alex’s room she had been freezing. She bit her lip. Maybe she did need a sweater after all.

When she got into her house, she grabbed a long black sweater from inside her closet and draped it around her body. The sweater was large, but it covered up nicely and it was pretty warm. She stared at herself in the mirror, noticing how much thinner it made her look.

She cursed at her last little thought, carrying on into the living room. She saw her adoptive parents sitting around watching television. She frowned. Ever since she had saved Alex, she had been experiencing brief moments of weirdness. She would find herself randomly hovering above the ground every now and then. Then there was that thing that had just occurred at the hospital with the elevator. She shook her head. She was just worried about Alex, that’s why she was feeling so odd.

“Mom, dad, I’m going to bed.” she spoke softly, running to her bedroom before her parents could even get in a brief word.

After school the next day, Lorna rushed home so she could get into the hospital in time for visiting hours. She quickly threw off the sweater she had worn since she got home last night, and raced out the back door of her house. She knew that her parents would be at work until late at night, but she wanted to be quick anyways. Though no one would be there to stop her, she still wanted to get there.

If she hurried, she would be able to spend at least an hour with him, instead of the usual half hour or fifteen minutes she had been forced to. She smiled. It was possible he could even be awake now since his parents said he was going to be fine. Her face lit up. She couldn’t wait to see him awake, or wait to tell him how she saved his life.

Lorna beamed when she finally stepped foot into the hospital. She walked over to the elevator and impatiently waited for it to stop for her. When Alex was awake, she could start concentrating on the peculiar things that had been happening with her. However, she wasn’t going to think about it until he was awake. She didn’t find it fair that she would be off exploring new oddities with herself while he lay unconscious in a hospital bed.

She stepped into the elevator, excitement filling every bone in her body as she rose to the top floor. She was hopeful. He was going to be awake. She could feel it. He was going to be awake and so happy to see her. She let out a small laugh. She’d have to poke fun at him that even though she wasn’t as experienced surfer as he was, she was the one who pulled him from the stormy waters, and did it without any help from another person.

Lorna quickly walked out of the elevator when it opened up. She tried to hold in her content feelings as she made her way to his room. She noticed Alex’s parents were talking with a nurse. They both seemed quite happy, and they were being asked to sign papers. Lorna smirked. He was awake.

She then leaned against his door and opened it.

“Alex are you—“ she started. When she gazed up the sight in the room, her green eyes froze. Her whole body became immobilized. She could feel her heart breaking into pieces, and tears clouding her vision.

Alex was awake alright, and he was kissing Annie.

They both pulled away, surprised to see her. Lorna let her arms fall to her sides. She felt so empty now, so cold. She needed her sweater.

“Lorna-“ he began, moving his blanket from his body. Annie scolded him and made him stay still. Lorna just shook her head and burst out of the room. She ran down the hallway, taking the stairwell instead of the elevator this time. She could feel the tears practically skyrocketing down her face.

When she reached the middle of the staircase, she collapsed on the hard surface, letting her silent cries become more vocal. She wiped her eyes with her hand, not at all helping with the look of horror upon her face.

Alex had cheated on her. Alex, her boyfriend had just cheated on her, right after she saved his life. It wasn’t with a girl he had known his whole life, it wasn’t with one of the girls from school, it was with that damn volunteer Annie.

Lorna’s eyes flashed, she could feel a sort of anger dwelling inside her. She shook her head, pushing it back. She didn’t want to get angry. She just wanted to go home.

About an hour later of pushed back sobs and angry tears, Lorna was finally in her bedroom. She draped her sweater around her cold shoulders and huddled in the corner of her room. More tears came. How could Alex do this to her? He was everything to her, he was her whole life. What was she to him? He obviously didn’t care about her as much as she thought, as much as she would have hoped. She was just a girl he discarded so quickly so he could kiss someone he just met. He didn’t care about her at all.

Lorna buried her face into her knees, feeling her tears soak her jeans. She wanted to do something, but she didn’t know what. She wanted to hurt the both of them, drop them in the ocean and let them drown. However, she knew she’d never do that. Even though he just cheated on her, she still loved Alex with all of her heart.

The sound of something smashing into her wall jolted Lorna up from crying. Her eyes widened when she saw her computer chair twisted and broken on the floor. She pushed herself tighter into the corner. It was a good thing her parents weren’t home; they’d be quite worried by the sound of the crash.

She blinked, seeing various other metal objects twisting about in the air. That’s when Lorna noticed her hands were glowing a fierce green. She yelped and fell over into a fetal position. Just when thing were horrible, they had gotten even worse.

She whimpered, still hearing the things thrash about in her room. She just wanted to sit there and bawl her eyes out. She didn’t care if her things were demented and broken. She couldn’t care if she wanted to.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, which caused her to jump. She looked up, her green eyes smeared with sadness. She stared at the young woman in front of her. She had black hair, worn into a very fancy bun. She also had unusual markings below her blue eyes. Lorna lifted her head, studying the stranger before her. She was wearing a long black coat, some sort of black corset top, with black pants and boots.

“Who—Who are you?” Lorna asked with worry straining her voice.

“I am here to help you.” The woman stated. Her eyes darted to the doorway. Lorna gasped, seeing another young woman with beautiful violet hair, and another one with black hair and a strange circle around her left eye.

“Who are you?” Lorna demanded, getting up. The metal objects in her room began to float up, spinning faster around the bedroom. The woman in front of her ducked, approaching Lorna carefully.

“My name is Tessa.” She introduced. “That is Betsy, and the other girl is Domino. We’re here to help you.”

“Get out of my house.” Lorna choked. “My parents are going to freak.”

“Oh, don’t worry about them, Luv. We can take care of things.” Betsy assured. She and Domino were coming closer. Lorna began to levitate up into the air. She was terrified. Who exactly where these people?

“I don’t need help.” She whimpered. The one named Domino rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, we can see that. I often float in my room while things smash on my walls. Perfectly normal behavior.” She snapped.

“What do you want?” Lorna eyed.

“As I said, we’re here to help you. You’re a mutant, Lorna. You have amazing abilities, just like us. I can help you control it all, just calm down.” Tessa stated. Lorna bit her lip, wondering if she should trust these people. It was all happening so fast.

That’s when she fell onto the ground. Tessa approached her, placing her hands on Lorna’s face. Two bolts of blue electricity came out of Tessa’s eyes, making their way to Lorna’s. Lorna yelled out in agony as the woman continued on with this strange process. When it was done, Lorna fell back.

“What’s going on?” she cried.

“I have updated your mutation; you should be able to have a much better control of things now. I would have preferred to do it when you were calmer, but I assumed that wouldn’t have been anytime soon.” Tessa informed her. Lorna quivered, holding her hands out to try and stop the floating objects, when it worked she looked down at her hands in amazement.

“So, we bringing her along, or is she just like the others?” Domino rang out, causally leaning against the wall. Tessa and Betsy just stared at her, telling her to be quiet. Betsy breezed past Domino and approached Lorna. She held her hand out, telling the young girl to grab it.

“We can help you, Luv. We know what you’ve been through, and I know it hurts now, but we promise it will get better.” She cooed. Lorna just stared at her, feeling her tears dry on her face.

“Are you the X-men?” she asked cautiously, remembering seeing the mutant team on the news awhile back. She looked to Tessa, seeing the dark expression on her face.

“No.” she uttered as if the question was poison.

“Oh, so are you like, um, bad guys?” Lorna whispered, finally taking Betsy’s hand to stand up. The woman laughed.

“Of course not, we’re more in the middle range.” She explained.

Lorna stood up, hugging her chest. She was confused. She had just been crying in her room while her so called mutation was bursting around her, and now these three females were here, telling her it was going to be okay. They were offering help, and Lorna knew she needed it. She wouldn’t be able to face Alex, or any of their friends at school. She’d be alone now. They had shared the same friends for so long, and she knew they’d rather hang around Alex. She bit her lip. She was stuck.

“Where would you bring me?” she clenched, looking up at Betsy.

“New York. We have a house there.” she explained. Lorna looked around her room, still unsure of what to do. “We can help you with your powers, along with any other problems.”

“I don’t know if I should go.” She admitted.

“Yeah, I know I wouldn’t want to leave all this behind.” Domino commented, receiving more stares from Tessa and Betsy.

“You don’t have to come with us now, or ever, but just know, we’re here if you need us. You have other options besides the X-men.” Tessa told her. Lorna nodded. She watched as the group of girls began to head out of her room. She rolled her eyes, unaware of what possessed her to say what she was about to.

“Wait!” she called. They turned around.

“Yes?” Tessa spoke.

“I want to go with you. I—I can’t stay here.” She mumbled. “Not after my boyfriend—not after my powers…I can’t stay here.”

“Get your belongings then, and when your parents return, Betsy and I will have a talk with them.” Tessa told her. Lorna shook her head.

“No, I don’t want them to know.” She whispered. “They already worried about my hair; they don’t need to know I’m more of a weirdo.”

“You’re not a-“ Betsy started.

“Yes, I am.” Lorna sneered. “Just let me get my stuff, I’ll leave a note. They’ll understand.”

Tessa gave her a slight nod. “We’ll be downstairs.”

Betsy and Tessa then left the bedroom, but Domino stayed back. She eyed Lorna with a sort of sympathy, but Lorna wasn’t so sure if that’s what it was. The girl seemed to be incredibly hard to read.

“What?” she asked as she grabbed a bag from her closet.

“You should say goodbye to them.” Domino told her. Lorna sighed.

“I’ll call them when I get to New York.” She pointed out. “Besides, it’s better this way. I’m not even their real daughter anyways.”

“Time to kick over the game board and start again with new rules.” Domino lulled as she exited the room. Lorna perked an eyebrow, curious as to what she had just gotten herself into.

It didn’t take long for her to get her things, and to write a note to her parents. When it was all done, she left the house with the others and entered a limo. They started to drive away, and she took one last look at her house. She mouthed a goodbye, and then turned her attention to the new people who had just entered her life.

A/N: If you wana know what happens to her next, just read my Scorned fics. Yeah, this is just a little thing I’ve been meaning to write for a little while. I realized that in The Scorned, their histories before they joined wasn’t really explored, so I thought I’d do one for Lorna, one for Betsy and one for Tessa as well. I started one for Domino, but it’s like thirty pages and I haven’t even gotten into anything yet, so it will just be the three. Anyhow, I hope everyone liked this and please review :)