Generation: X-Men

New Jersey, United States of America – 1952

She lived in a lower class home, daughter to lower class parents Lily and Joshua. Scarlet Moore was anything but lower class, however. At ten years old, she had just discovered a part of her that no one else she knew possessed. One morning, she woke up on the side of a hill miles away from her house. She panicked, staring around her with wide eyes. She bent down and touched the grass, to make sure it was real. She stood up again and started hyperventilating, frightened out of her mind. Then she shut her eyes tight…and when she opened them again, she found herself back in her own bed, huddled against the wall closest to her. Scarlet let out a slight shriek in shock, then quickly quietened once more. Just then, Lily burst through the doorway and stared at her child. Scarlet’s hair was tumbling down around her shoulders in wild disarray, the deep red in harsh contrast with her pale skin.

“What’s wrong, Scar?” Lily demanded, swooping on her and clutching her shoulders.

Scarlet shook uncontrollably, gazing at her trembling hands.

“I was…on a…hill…Don’t know…where…or why…” she stammered, whispering almost unintelligibly.

Lily sat back, looking at her. Something on the radio… She shook her head, frowning at herself. No, things like that didn’t exist in real life.

“I’m sure it was just a dream, sweetheart. A nightmare, perhaps” she murmured, stroking the hair out of her daughter’s eyes.

Scarlet shrugged away and closed her eyes, the memory of the hill still etched in her mind. She had travelled there and then back again, she knew it. She felt her mother pull the top blanket up over her and tuck it in under the mattress.

Lily dropped a kiss on her daughter’s forehead and then left the room, closing the door after her.

Scarlet opened her eyes again, aware of the heat burning inside her tummy. She swallowed rapidly, trying to stop the pain. She was searing on the inside, and she bit down hard on her lower lip to prevent the scream boiling up the white column of her throat. Stars burst in front of her eyes and she at last opened her mouth to scream. No sound came out. The burning sensation ceased and the silver stars blooming in her vision. But she sensed instantly that something had shifted inside her, something had changed in the world around her.

Scarlet shook her head and shut her eyes. When she reopened them, her father was standing by her bed. Joshua stared down at her, his gaze calculating. Then he knelt so that he faced her on her level.

“Your momma told me what happened, Scar. Don’t tell anybody about it. It’s dangerous and it isn’t normal. Try not to do it again and never show anyone what you can do. The consequences would be terrible if you did it again” he said seriously.

“But, I didn’t…” Scarlet began, but she was interrupted by him.

“Shush! Don’t do it again and hide it. If you don’t do what I say, someone will come and take you away. You’ll be locked up and we won’t be able to do anything about it” Joshua muttered urgently.

Scarlet stared back at him, her dark sea coloured eyes wide with fright. She nodded and shrank back into the wall, curling her legs up. She turned her face away from her father and squeezed her eyes tight shut. Joshua walked out of the bedroom, but this time he left the door wide open. Scarlet pressed her palms against her closed eyes and tried to push the tears away. She breathed in and choked suddenly on saliva and tears.

She didn’t want to be separated from her parents or her brother.

New Jersey, 1960 – Scarlet’s Graduation Day

The high school field was set up with a stage in the middle, the microphone stand near the front edge. In front of the stage stood rows of chairs for relatives and the steps on either side of the stage were prepared for the senior graduates.

At four o’clock, the seats were all occupied, and at quarter past, the graduates were all there, lined up to the right of the black stage.

Scarlet searched the faces in the audience until she found her older brother Miles, and then her parents sitting on either side of him. She was the only member of her family with red hair; she was a mutant in more ways than one. Miles grinned at her and gave her the thumbs up. Joshua and Lily calmly looked up in her direction, airy half smiles on their faces. Scarlet looked away from them and blinked rapidly to clear the teary mist forming in her eyes, aware of the electric tingling in her hands and head. Her heart muscle contracted painfully in her chest as she strove to control herself.

The school principal stood up to the podium and began his speech. Scarlet listened with one ear as the man spoke, the rest of her attention focused on her tightly clenched hands.

“We’ll do things a bit different here, today. The names of our school graduates will be read out in reverse alphabetical order” Mr Danes announced.

Scarlet waited impatiently, her fingernails digging harshly into her skin. When her name was called, she mounted the stage, smiled at her principal as he shook her hand and passed her the high school diploma she had worked so hard for. But then a camera went off, the bright flash exploded in her face, and the fragile grasp of control she had, snapped. With the brightness still in her eyes, Scarlet gripped her certificate in one hand and gazed out towards the crowd watching her. Her heart thumped faster. She Jumped. The gasps and screams reached her ears as she landed on the far side of the audience sitting, but she wasn’t waiting around for them to catch and burn her alive. Scarlet Jumped a second time, her control stabling once again. She reached her house and slammed in through the front door after jimmying the easy lock. She hurriedly found a suitcase and packed important items into it, layering them right to the very brim. Last of all, she pocketed some of, and packed the rest, the stash of money she kept hidden under a loose floorboard in her room. She had thought a day such as this would arrive, so had prepared for it when it did. The cash she had scrounged when her brother brought it to her from wherever or whoever he could get it.

Scarlet took one last cursory look at her bedroom before leaving for good, never looking back.

New York, 1962

Scarlet was working as a singing waitress in a middle class restaurant in New York City. She was taking a man’s order when her boss approached her, calmly putting a hand on her shoulder.

“There are two gentlemen here who have requested that you perform for them, Scarlet. Would you follow me, please?” he asked her quietly, nodding and smiling at the disrupted customer.

“Privately?” Scarlet inquired, her suspicions kindled instantly.

“Yes. Come with me” he replied.

He took the pad and pencil out of her hand and guided her through into the restaurant’s rear room. As soon as he left, Scarlet turned to face the two men, her arms folded across her chest. She saw no evidence of a microphone anywhere in the room, so instead of singing, she studied the men. One of them was shorter, with bright blue eyes and dark brown hair, while the other was red haired with a hardened expression.

“Perform for us and we’ll perform for you” the blue eyed man said, eyeing her keenly.

“No” Scarlet replied, staring just as sharply at him.

“Why not?” the man shot back.

“Because I don’t know you and I don’t trust you” Scarlet stated bluntly.

“My name is Charles Xavier and this is my friend Erik Lensherr. And you are Scarlet Moore” the same one said calmly.

Scarlet narrowed her vision and fiddled with the metal dogtags hanging around her neck. A voice inside her mind whispered unknown scientific terms to her, and her eyes widened. The man named Charles smiled benevolently at her and crossed one ankle over the other as he leaned against the back wall.

“Erik, if you please. No pain, remember” he murmured.

Scarlet eyed the taller man warily, then suppressed a yelp of surprise as her dogtags moved under her fingers and pulled away from her neck until they floated in the air, the black leather cord taut. She swapped her attention back to Charles, relief in her gaze. He knew it. The words he had spoken earlier, the trick he had played had made her nervous and even slightly scared of them. Vague regret bit at him, but he pushed it away, just as Erik released the girl’s dogtags.

“Ah. I understand. Is it my turn now?” Scarlet asked them politely.

Charles raised his eyebrows.

“Yes, please” he responded, equally politely.

Scarlet shrugged and Jumped, appearing on Charles’ left side.

Erik stared at her, his interest piqued. He could use someone like her.

Charles pushed off from the wall and extended his right hand to her. Scarlet shook it. He could feel the remaining heat of her skin transfer to his with a slight burn, but he didn’t mention it.

“If you’ll come with us, we can give you a life where you will be appreciated and where you won’t have to run away anymore. Are you interested, Scar?” he said, then paused. “I hope you don’t mind; I saw it in your head.”

Scarlet smiled ruefully and shook her head at him.

“No, I don’t mind. And yes, I would like to come with you, Mr Xavier” she said quietly.

He smiled at her.

“Please just call me Charles” he replied.
Scarlet nodded, and then and there her fate was sealed. For always.