Dreams of War

After I fell asleep, I found myself dreaming of Charles Xavier again. He was making soft promises of safety, of belonging, and of an up-coming meeting. Telling me there would soon be a fork in the road, and i would have to choose.
He took me inside a building, showing me people who couldn't see me until he came to a normal looking door. Once he opened it, I went inside, curious to see what might be so important that he singled it out. And then, I came face to face with a sleeping man. He looked handsome, I'll admit, but there was something strange about him.
It wasn't the fact that he looked like he was in pain, it was the animal I could feel within him, clawing and looking for a way to get out. But what frightened me more was the strange attraction I felt towards the sleeping mutant. Like something in me wanted to get closer to him.
I took a step forwards, curious, and he jolted awake with a scream in his throat. I followed suit, sitting up in my bed quickly, finding that I was screaming too, and clutching the blankets.
I didn't know why.

"Are you alright, sweetie?" Aunt Maggie rushed in, pressing a hand to my cheek. I nodded, and stood up a little wobbly.

"Yeah, I uh... It was just a dream." I mumbled, smiling reassuringly at my aunt. She nodded, and I decided to head to the kitchen for a glass of water.
I ended up nibbling on a cracker when I felt a mutant standing behind me.

"I know you're there" I said, not looking. It was probably Jasmine, so I didn't bother.

"Is Margaret Coleman home?" came an unknown male voice.
I rose an eyebrow, and turned around to stare at the strange man in the kitchen.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked, my tone of voice blunt.

"Victor. They call me Sabertooth" he grinned, showing me his slightly elongated canines. I didn't quite see what the hell it had to do with anything, but hey, not my call.
That's when it hit me.

"Victor? You mean you're the dude that got my aunt prego?" I asked, before realizing what I had said and slapping both hands over my mouth.

"You didn't hear any of that" I mumbled through my hands. My eyes went very wide, but he was too stunned to realize.

That's when I noticed his nails. They were super long, and digging into his palms enough to draw blood.
Taking advantage of his stunned state, I reached over and stole a drop or two of his blood, pressing the warm sticky liquid to my lips.
As the blood went in my mouth, i felt the awaited tingle go through my body, seemingly to awaken something in the deepest corner of me.
And then the pain started.

It started as a dull throb in my jaw, but it soon bloomed into a stabbing pain that started spreading.
I whimpered when it attacked my limbs, making me drop to my knees, and grip the table to try to keep myself steady. It didn't work.
The pain kept spreading and intensifying until I was writhing in pain on the ground, feeling like my whole body was on fire.
I felt an agonizing screech rip through my chest as I felt my muscles shift slightly and strengthen, my bone thicken and change in the slightest, becoming more animalistic, my guts twisting and changing the most, not to forget my jaw was trying to produce inhuman canines.

When the pain stopped, I was left dry-sobbing with a dull ache running through my entire body while I layed breath-less on the ground. I had a sheen of sweat covering my entire body.
I thought I heard a gasp coming from somewhere, but i was unconscious before my brain could register.

In the darkness, I saw Charles Xavier again, though he only shook his head this time, and pressed two fingers to my forehead.

I gasped when my body jerked awake, and found myself in my bed. I had no idea how the hell I had gotten there, but it didn't matter much.

"Maggie?" I called, finding my throat sore. I didn't get an answer.
Feeling confused, I headed to the bathroom to get myself an advil or something. My stride was more graceful than it used to be, more... Feline-like, I guess.

I stepped in, and stared at my reflection in the mirror in shock, my now orange eyes wide.
Then, the happenings of last night came back to my mind, and I snarled at the memory of the pain. Wait. Snarled?
I had fluffy feline ears, and a tail. They were both striped cream and black, which would make me part white tiger.

I touched my ear lightly, and giggled, flicking it, when it tickled.
Am I stuck with these? I asked myself, and just like that, the ears melted back into my skull, and my tail shrank back into my tail-bone, leaving me reasonably normal looking.
I still had that cat-like feel about me, that would be hard to hide. Of course, my nails and canines were slightly longer and pointier than average, but that didn't matter.

I walked to the kitchen, fully intent on grabbing myself something to eat, when my new and improved vision caught sight of a note on the fridge.

'Dear Phoebe, I left with Victor and brought Jasmine with me. You can do what you want with the apartment, but I'm guessing you'll leave... You've always had that feel about you... Anyways, I'm sorry for leaving so hastily, but I think you won't need to test him ;) Call me when you get this' was written in my aunt's handwriting.

I sighed, and dialed one of the only numbers I knew by heart. The other ones were mine, Tane's and the police.

"Phoebe?" came my aunt's frantic voice.

"Yeah, aunt Mags?" I asked, sitting in a chair calmly.

"Do you think you'll be alright alone?" she asked. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Yeah, Maggie. But I'm not the one who should be answering that question. Are you sure you're going to be fine? You know, with Jazz and the baby on the way and all?" I asked. I couldn't help but be slightly worried for my scatter-brained aunt. Sometimes, she was a bit like a hormonal teenager stuck in the body of a responsible adult. Sometimes.

I thought I heard some noise that sounded way too much like kisses for my liking.

"Uh huh. Don't worry about me, hun, I'll be fine," she assured me. I heard a moan right before the phone clicked shut. I made a face. Ew.

Just then, my watch started beeping, letting me know that I was late for school

"Aw, crap" I muttered, rushing around and getting dressed. Afterwards, I grabbed a piece of toast quickly, and was about to leave when I heard my cellphone ring from my pocket.

Sticky sweet by Motley Crue came on, and I grabbed my phone, pressing it to my ear.

"Yo?" I asked, locking the door on my way out.

"Phoebe, I swear to god, Cass is having a meltdown. Where the hell are you?" came Tane's voice. I could almost imagine his face. Somewhere between worry and distress. He never did know what to do when Cassie started to have one of her monthly emotional break-downs.

"I'm on my way, rough night last night." I said, heading out.

"What?" He was confused, I could tell. But when I spotted my aunt's bright red mustang shining in the driveway, my worries seemed to slip away.

"Um... I'll explain at school. Talk to you later!" I rushed through the words, and snapped my phone shut, sticking it back in my pocket.

I practically flew to the car, and look over the interior, only to find the keys and a note stuck under the dash.
The note simply said, 'thought you might need this. Have fun!'.
I squealed, and turned the keys in the ignition, screaming again when it purred to life.

I drove to school in a chipper mood, jumping in my seat, until I parked in the student parking lot.

I practically skipped to the doors, until I heard the lunch bell ring. Then I froze. The sound was quickly accompanied by the sound of hundreds of teens screaming and running through the halls. I moved out of the way just in time, pressing myself up against a wall to avoid getting trampled.

"Where the heck were you!" Cassandra screeched in my ear, tackle-hugging me and causing me to bump my head on the wall I was leaning against.

"Ow" I mumbled, rubbing the back of my head. I stiffened when I felt something wet and sticky, and pulled my hand back to see what it was. At the sight of the blood, Cassie gasped.

"Oh my god, are you alright?" she asked, pulling my head forwards so that she could see my non-existing wound.

"Cass, let me remind you that I can heal pretty damn quickly" I reminded her when she started moving my hair around.

She let me go, and I straightened up, staring right into the worried eyes of Tane, as he finally found us.

"Um... I think we should go somewhere more private to talk about this..." I let the proposal hang as I rushed back to my car, unlocking it and throwing myself in in one swift movement.

"You have a new car?!" Tane and Cassandra were both staring at my Mustang wide-eyed, and almost drooling.

"mhm. Hop in!" I said, and they wasted no time in doing as I asked.

I drove to a nearby sub-way, parking smoothly between a VW bug, and a huge pick-up truck.

We went in, ordered and sat down in a secluded spot, where I launched into a very detailed story about last night's happenings, only leaving out the secrets shared between me and Mags.

"So... Another power? Sweet! Lemme see it! Lemme see it!" Cassie gushed, and I showed her my nails.

"But um... Are you really going to leave?" asked a sullen-looking Spark. He looked so sad, I had to do something about it.
I reached over the table we were at, and pressed my lips to his sweetly, running a hand through his soft black hair while the other one held me up.
It wasn't like before, this time I felt like I was split in two. My human part wanted Tane bad, but my animal part wanted nothing to do with him. It seemed to have other preferences.

"Oh, get a room you two!" said an exasperated Cassandra.
I chuckled, breaking the kiss, and we both took back our original position.

"That still doesn't answer my question, Phoebe" he said, slightly breathless. I wasn't.

"Yes." was all I said. He seemed rather confused by my answer.

"Yes what? Yes you're leaving or yes you're staying?" he asked.

"Yes I haven't answered your question yet. But I might leave as I might not. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, wont we?" I answered with a wink. Tane sighed, but nodded none-the-less.

<|small time lapse|>

When we got back to the school, I noticed a huge group of students staring at something in the middle of the yard.
Curious, I parked the car, and headed towards the mob, my friends not far behind me.
I pushed and shoved my way through the crowd, finally reaching the middle only to find a guy with angel wings in the middle of a fight with another guy who shot fire at him.
Deciding the angel guy didn't stand a fight, I shot a small flame at the fire-mutant.

"Hey there. What's your name?" I asked as sweetly as possible.

"They call me Pyro. You?" He said, and I spotted the mechanism on his wrist that created fire.

"Me? Why, I happened to be called Copycat." I said, preparing a nice ball of electricity as I let my animal side take over slightly.

He grinned and tried to shoot fire at me, but i zapped his device just in time, making him incapable of doing anything.
I cocked my head to the side slightly as I checked out the angel guy. He was pretty cute... And I sure as hell wouldn't mind having his power...

"Watch out!" Cassie called. I realized what was happening just a bit too late.
Pyro had pulled out a zippo lighter, blaring fire at me, and Cass had thrown herself in front of me to protect me.

"NOOOOOO!" I screeched, trying to pull her out of the way, but I didn't manage it very well, and she still got blasted.

I held her until I heard her heart stop, sobbing over the life-less body of my dead friend.

Then I looked up, and saw Pyro smirking at me. Oh that little...
I started seeing red, my animal side taking over completely, and I changed directly before the eyes of all the stunned on-lookers.
I growled menacingly at Pyro, which only made him chuckle.

"Ohhh, kitty got claws?" he cooed, wagging his finger at me.
My lip twitched, and I snarled at him, jumping with claws extended and jaws parted ready to rip through the flesh in his throat.