The Blood Phoenix: An X-Men: First Class Fanfiction

Chapter 1: My First Life

I was raised by my mother in a two-bedroom apartment. Sounds pretty shabby, doesn't it? My school was nicer. At least, my third school this year. I'd been kicked out of two schools before for what they called disorderly behaviour. I never thought I was a bad girl, I just thought they were wrong. Dead wrong. I wanted to prove to them that I wasn't so bad, I just had a few issues that could probably be straightened out in time. In time, I told myself. In time. But as I had my face pushed into a cold steel locker door, I thought those issues could wait. But I couldn't hurt her. Not the popular girl. Darlene Martha Holding. She was such an ass. She always called me a freak. Not the worst name in the world. But painting the word 'FREAK!!!' in big bold letters on my locker door was not the nicest way to go about things. My parents had been sent big, official letters from the principals of my last two schools begging to send me to a special school for my powers and abilities. I was also quite emotionally charged/driven, which is why painting that stupid word on my locker door with three exclamation marks made me as mad as a hatter.

'Let me go, Darlene!' I growled, my face still mushed into the locker. I tried to struggle, but to no avail. She did do karate, so I was hopeless. Except for my powers. But I couldn't harm her. Then I heard a yell.

'Darlene, let her go!' It was Mr. Holding, Darlene's dad. He was my music teacher. He liked me. Ever since I had been attending this school, he had figured out that music, especially classical music, helped with my emotions. At this yell, Darlene let me go.

'I hope you enjoyed that, you sucker of a teacher's pet!' She ran off, but her dad grabbed her by the arm.

'Apologise, Darlene.'

'I'm not apologising. She's such a baby. I didn't want to let her go without a fight.'

'Don't try and defend yourself, Adelaide. Just stay still.'

'Yes sir.' I waited while Mr. Holding spoke to his daughter. After a while, she turned to me, shoulders drooping and an insincere look on her face.

'I'm sorry.' However insincere her apology was, I still took it on.

'Forgiven. Friends?'

'No,' she said and stomped off to the next hall.

'Come with me, Adelaide. I have something to give you.' I followed Mr. Holding into the music room, where he came to his desk. Opening a drawer, he gave me two cassette tapes. I had got a new cassette player for my birthday and this would be perfect.

'This is mine?'

'Absolutely. It's got a few tapes of classical music on it and the other one has rock music. A little bit of both for your soul. It'll help with balancing those tricky emotions of yours. Speaking of that, I like how you handled Darlene's behaviour earlier. Had you have retaliated, you would have never walked through those doors again.'

'Thank you, Mr. Holding. I'll definitely put these to use.'

'Alright. Head to class.' I headed to class and made sure to find a seat far away from Darlene.

When school was over, I went outside to find my mother's familiar car. There was no sign. I waited for a couple of minutes. Still no sign. After a while, Mr. Holding came out with his car keys in his hand. 'Are you waiting for your mother?'

'Yes. But she's not here, which worries me. I've got a bad feeling.'

'Telepathy playing up?'

'Yes.'

'Would you like me to take you home?'

'Yes.' On our way home, I sat in the front seat, staying quiet. There was silence for a few minutes before he spoke.

'For a girl that goes to a very busy school, you are very quiet. Not to mention a master of the one-word conversation. You keep to yourself much?'

'Yes. In case you noticed, I'm quite a keep-to-myself kind of person.'

'So... who raised you exactly?'

'My mother. We live in a two-bedroom apartment together. It's not much, but we get by.'

'What about your dad?' 

'My mother says he left before I was born. I don't know why, maybe the responsibility of being a dad made him chicken out a little. But my mother says that he has telekinesis like I do. She said that he can manipulate metal like I can.'

'Do you have a photo, a name... anything?'

'No. Nothing. My mum said that his last name was Lehnsherr, but she changed mine and her surname back to her maiden name Pearson. I suppose it was to avoid detection or something like that. My mother also knew how strong my powers were getting, so I guess it was no sense letting the world know that I was the estranged daughter of the world's most powerful mutant.'

'So that's how your mother raised you?' 

'Yup,' I replied, popping the letter P.

'So Lehnsherr, huh?'

'Yeah. But please don't go around using that as my last name.'

'Got it. This is our stop?'

'Yes.' I got out of the vehicle and Mr Holding walked up with me to the apartment. Producing a key, I unlocked the door and stepped inside the house. The place was a mess and my telepathy was firing off all sorts of information. The vibe that I was getting from the place was so not right. It was not at all how I left the house. 'Mother!' I called out. No answer. 'Mother! I'm home!' Coughing noises came from the kitchen in response. Dumping my bag, I ran into the kitchen to see blood all over the floor and my mother laying in a pool of blood. I knelt beside her and took her hand. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and gave out a pained breath. 'Mother, I'm here. It's me. What happened to you?'

'I was going to pick you up and then a man came in and threatened to kill me if I didn't tell him where you were. I didn't and so he shot me.'

'But Mother, why now? Who have they come for?'

'They've come for you. Your powers are at their greatest. You must run, hide, prevent them from from finding you and using you as an experiment.'

'I'll try, Mother. I'll try.' And with a last 'I love you,' escaping from her lips, she died in my arms.

'What a shame,' I heard a man say from behind me.