Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story. They all belong to their respected owners.

This had been posted on tradingxyesterday when I lost my account info, but it's on here now.

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She knew that the battle was going on. None of the news crews could get close enough, but she knew that it was. A feeling in the pit of her stomach told her so. She could be helping; maybe. With her powers, it was always hard for her in Danger Room sessions to actually feel like she was doing anything besides needing to be saved by the others. She was a very powerful mutant, sure, but she had to be able to touch someone for a good solid thirty seconds before she could kill anyone. Not that she had ever killed anyone before. She hadn't been able to. Her mind wouldn't let her. That was just the way she was; she would never make a good X-Man.

So that's why she was sitting by herself in a half empty apartment in the dark, knees hugged up to her chest. She was in New York, holed away in a tiny place because she didn't want to have to face the X-mansion. She didn't belong there. She wasn't a mutant anymore. She had no right to be there. She did feel bad about using the cure, especially with Storm's words echoing in her head: "There is no cure, because there's nothing wrong with you." Something felt wrong with her; hell, she couldn't even kiss her own boyfriend and where did that land her? With no boyfriend and now, with no place to stay. She wouldn't be able to stay here long; she didn't have any money stored away, save a few hundred dollars she had taken with her when she left Mississippi.

Dressed in next to nothing, taking full advantage of the fact that she could touch now--even if she had no one to touch--she lay back on the flat mattress, staring at the ceiling, her hair spread out around her like a halo of sorts. On the other side of the country, thousands of people were dying; or so she guessed. Mutants and humans alike, all fighting for control. She didn't see how anyone could hate a more highly evolved species of themselves; but she could see how mutants like Magneto could think he was superior to humans. To her, mutants were just like humans. They looked like humans--mostly--and acted like them and had emotions like them. She didn't see a difference and she didn't know why people could be so hateful. There was no doubt that she knew they were; it just didn't make any sense in her mind.

Closing her eyes, she brought her needs up to her chest and lay there, completely still. The voices of the first boy she had kissed, and Logan and John and Bobby and Colossus and Magneto were gone, and somehow, she felt more alone than ever. The voices, as strange and horrible as some of them were, had always been in her head, whispering and screaming, making her never alone. And now that she was, she didn't know what to do with herself. Could she go back to the mansion? Should she just stay away? There were too many things to think of; too many options to think through in one night. Her head was still a little fuzzy from taking the cure, making it even harder to make a decision. But for now, she settled on one thing: she was alone.