Clea brothe in shallowly, clutching her chest when she appeared on the ground. She couldn't breathe properly, and all she could concentrate on was the fire that was building inside her small chest. Crying out, she spasmed on the ground clutching her head. Slowly, she recalled the one leaf her father had kept inside the lab with him all the time. He'd given her something everyday, and she hadn't felt the pain until now. Harsh cries like a child escaped her lips as she tired to fight the pain, and she felt the irregualr beating. Oh no, Clea's heart! Clutching her chest again, she turned her head towards the sign in front of her and started to read. Xavier's School For The Gifted... Slowly, she struggled to get up, and pulled her hand away from her chest, seeing a light red stain.

Raina was preparing to take a late night stroll when she heard the strange sound. It was like a firecracker pop followed by the sound of something hitting something else that was hard. Normally she took her time getting ready as she relished the relaxtion and alone time but after hearing the sound she leapt out the door and down the steps in her bare feet.

There was snow on the ground and it was freezing out. She hoped there wouldn't be a person behind the sound but her fear was confirmed when she saw a young girl in a heap in the snow. "oh no" she whispered to herself. "A new mutant... HANG ON" she called to the girl dashing down the walkway that was icy even to her bare feet.

The cold didn't bother Raina as much but the first thing she did when she saw the young girl lying there was toss her own jacket off and wrap it around the young girl. She couldn't have been more than 15. "Are you awake? Are you concious? Can you hear me?" she pleaded pushing the girls hair out of her eyes to take a look. "You're bleeding..." she saw "are you hurt?"

She waited anxiously for the girls reply thinking of a course of action to take.

Clea struggled as the unfamilar person grabbed her. "NO! NO! Clea doesn't like being touched!" She cried out, feeling her heart struggle as it was strained with her blood pumping too fast. "OW! MAMA! CECIL! DADDY!" She felt her wound start to open more with the stress. She clutched her heart and imagined the single leaf in the jar her dad had showed her. Her dad had been smiling when he held it, saying that she'd always have room in her heart for him this way. "MAMA!" She felt bad for yelling for her mom, even after all she had done, and taken away Cecil when he got sick and dad needed him. She closed her eyes and bit her tongue to keep from screaming.

"hey hey calm down calm down it's alright no one's going to hurt you now." said Raina tightening her grip on the thrashing teen. "Just breathe slowly you're going to tear it worse." she could see from the stain on her shirt that something was wrong with the girls chest. "You need to calm down and tell me what happened so I can help you." she said in a soothing voice cradling the girl in her arms and rocking slowly to try and help calm her down. "Just listen to my breathing and try to focus on it. Try to breathe with me it'll help you calm down."

She couldn't be sure if the girl could hear her or was even listening. She seemed to be in a lot of shock and she was certainly screaming a lot. She wondered what possibly could have happened to the girl. At least she was here now.

Raina wished she had her cell phone with her so she could call the infirmary. If she couldn't get the girl to calm down she wasn't sure how she could help her in this state on her own.

Slowly, Clea stopped thrashing and listened to the stranger's voice. Her breathing steadily slowed and she blinked, looking at the person's face for the first time. She swallowed and tried to obey what she said, but her heart was hurting a lot. "Clea's heart hurts." She tapped where her dad had taught her her heart was. Her pain had becime a lot tamer now. She blinked and winced again. Clutching her chest tighter, she looked at the woman.

"Clea.... doesn't want to be bad, but she didn't want to lose her.... escape...." Her breathing slowed down again. "The loud noise scared Clea and she scattered away, but forgot her heart.... a piece of it....." She Closed her eyes and felt tears of pain trickle out of them. "Can't escape this!"

Raina looked down at 'Clea' with worry. Why was she reffering to herself as Clea and not "I" or "me"? Was it shock? Part of her mutation? Raina wasn't sure. But she thanked God Clea had stopped thrashing and listened to her. She seemed so much younger than her body made her appear.

"Hi Clea. My name is Miss Raina. I'm a teacher here at this school. You landed at a special place for people like you." even without knowing her power Raina wasn't dumb. She'd bet her last dollar that Clea was a mutant. "I'm sorry your chest hurts." she said calmly. "If you lay very still I can do something that will make it hurt less and then I can take you to the special doctor we have inside the school. " she explained. "Just stay very still and don't be scared. I have a very special gift that can help."

She was worried that using her power infront of the child would scare her, but really she had no choice. In this condition Clea could die if she lost any more blood and there was now ay for Raina to know what was done to her or what was missing. So Raina did the only thing she could do for someone in pain, she'd numb it.

She took in a breath of cold air and sang a long beautiful note. It hung in the night air and slowly but surely a small bit of ice started to form around the hole in Clea's chest. She sang carefully urging the ice to be thin yet strong. Just enough to numb the pain and stop the blood. Not enough to hurt her. It wouldn't last long once they got inside. She stopped singing.

"Clea..." she started weary of the young girls responce. "I can move ice with my voice. I used it to cover your hole so you wont bleed or hurt for a few minutes. It wont last long so we need to move quickly. Do you think you can stand or should I carry you?" she asked.

She wondered what Clea meant by the loud noise and scattering. Could Clea be a bit like the Victoria she'd recently met?

"Clea will be good..... No water, crowds or loud noises." The younger girl felt a little woozy from the pain still. She shook her head, "Clea will scatter if it makes it easier for Ms. Raina." She got up slowly, but remained only sitting up, she imagined herself as a pile of leaves blowing in the wind. Slowly, the cracks on her body darkened and her skin turned green, slowly turning into leaves and blowing towards the gates.
Once she got there though, and her body reformed, showing her to be clad in a black tanktop and yellow bicycle shorts. Suddenly, she fell on the ground, feeling even more dizzy and in pain. Falling down, she felt everything go black.

Raina could barely get a word out as little spidery marks made their way around Clea and she materialized as a pile of leaves moving in the wind. Raina sat there still with her arms out completley shocked by what had just happened. Finally snapping out of it she realized Clea really was a lot like Victoria. She shook her head and stood up. "Uh I don't know if you can hear me but the infirmary is through that door, down the hall all the way to the back, and to the left" Was she seriously talking to a pile of leaves? She had no time to waste.

She jetted back up the stairs and throughthe door which she left open. As soon as she reached the warmth of the mansion she realized how cold she'd been feeling. She dashed down the hall mentally swearing for going out barefoot. These feet were going to need some attention later.

She skidded to a stop infront of the Infirmary and banged on the door. "Doc Prof!" she called. "We have an emergency!" she kicked open the door to see Doc Prof standing there with a book and his glasses on his head. "No time to explain!" she yelled as the mass of leaves started appearing in the room and swirling until they took shape in the form of Clea.

Clea stood only a moment before she passed out. "Oh no!" cried Raina.

"Stand back Raina" said Dr. Prof. "This student's mutation ould cause her to dismantle at any moment" he explained.

He motioned for Raina to bring over one of the beds and Raina nodded oblidging. She wheeled it over while Dr. Prof examined her. Once it arrived Dr. prof picked Clea up as carefully as he could and put her on the bed. He lifted one of her eye lids and looked in with a light, then he opened her mouth and looked in and looked in her ears as well. He pulled back the tank top to reveal the gaping hole in her chest.

"Raina go get me a fresh IV and be careful not to get yourself wet. . Raina nodded and while she prepped the IV Doc Prof readied his tools. If I didn't know better I'd say she's missing a part of her heart. I'm going to have to fix the artery and stitch her back up. I think you should leave the room I'll call you back in when it's finished. It's going to get boody.

Raina stood with the IV in shock. Missing a part of her heart? That was crazy! She stared down at the young girl feeling almost a maternal instinct and felt sad. What had happened to her? She felt herself go woozy as she left the room and sat on the steel waiting chair outside.

An hour or so went by and Raina nodded off a little. It was the middle of the night afterall. At some point in time Doc. Prof must have checked on her because when she awoke hearing her name she was covered by a blanket. "mmm?" she looked up to see Doc. Prof.

"She's stabalized. You can see her now." he said motioning for Raina to come in. Raina nodded.

Walking into the little room Raina was shocked. Clea was so pale and hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor. She lay in the bed and Raina could see Clea's chest was covered with white gause. There was a few specs of red. "What happened?" Raina asked.

Doc. Prof shook his head. "I dont know. She could have been attacked, it could have been an affect from her mtuation. But Clea is indeed missing a piece of her heart. Thankfully the artery wasn't as damaged as I thought. It's as if the piece just didn't come when she materialized here."

Raina stared in wonder and pulled up a chair sitting next to Clea. She took the girls hand in hers. "Clea. Can you hear me? It's miss Raina. You're safe now."

Clea blinked a few times, then stared at Raina. "Was Clea good?" She asked, she winced and looked at the needle. "Noooooooo....." She reached for the needle to pull it out. "Clea wants to stay the way she is, Clea will be good...." The voices sounded like it was coming from the end of a tube. "Clea willbe good." She looked around, "Where's Mama and Cecil?" She swallowed. "Clea wants to see if Cecil's okay from the cancer."

Raina looked down at Clea and frowned. She was still talking like a toddler. Was is still the shock? "Clea was very good." assured Raina feeling somewhat worried and exchanging glances with Doc Prof. "Clea. You need the needle for right now." she explained. "just for a little while." she gave the young girl's hand a squeeze. "It's keeping the pain away from your chest. You didn't do anything wrong you're not in any trouble."

Agains he glanced to Doc Prof who just shrugged and went to cleaning up. "Clea. Who is Cecil? Where's your mom?" she asked. "Do you remember what happened? You need to tell miss Raina anything you remember. Think hard."

Clea's eyes rolled around as she rembered. "Cecil is Clea's brother. He's sick , but mama took him to live with her, so Clea can't hear his stories anyway." She touched her palm. "Mama didn't like Clea's running away, so she left when Clea was eight. Cecil got sick two years later." She swallowed again. "We're not in South Carolina are we?" she asked, looking up at Raina.

She rubbed her head in slight confusion. "Daddy said that Clea was going to get cured, and she could go to school. But Clea didn't want to get cured, so she ran away, and woke up here.... then she met Raina, and tried to run." She blinkedand looked around. "Where is Clea?"

Raina looked again to Doc prof and then back to Clea with a worried look on her face. Did she say cured? Raina knew far too much about that. She thought carefully about how to explain things. "Clea." she began. "You're not in South Carolina. You're in New York City. This is a special safe place for people like you to learn how to not get hurt from their powers. We can give you a place to stay here and teach you about your powers if you want to stay here." she looked at Clea seriously. "I'm sorry Cecil is sick. I don't know where he is. Maybe when Clea get's better I can help Clea look for him and momma?"

"New York?" Clea asked, touching her head. "Clea knows where that is." She rubbed her head a bit in confusion. "Clea's never run this far before. The most Clea has gone is a mile." She struggled to sit up. "Raina.... said Clea was special?" She blinked when she saw a new person. "Who's he?" She asked, pointing, "Clea doesn't rember him."

She felt a stabbing pain in her chest again. "AH!" She grabbed her chest. "MAMA!" She started crying. She rubbed her eyes. "Clea wants to find mama, to say she's sorry for not beimg like Cecil. It's Clea's fault Cecil got sick, she kept him away from the normal people so he could read stories to her. That's what Daddy said." She rubbed her eyes.

"Hmm Clea's never gone this far before eh?" she commented. "It sounds like something must have scared Clea awfully bad to use her powers like that." Raina scooted her chair closer to Clea and pushed the hair from her eyes again. Clea was a teenager and Raina knew it but she couldn't help feeling like Clea was a small child. "You are special Clea, your gift is very special." She turned to Doc Prof. "This is Doc Prof, he's the doctor here and he's also a teacher so we all all him Doc Prof. He's very gentle and kind and he's been very helpful while you were unconcious."

Just then Clea began to scream at hold at her chest. "Alright Alright!" called Doc Prof running over. "I'll up the pain meds" He pushed a few buttons on the IV machine. "Just sit back and try to breathe Clea. THis should help in a few seconds. No more thrashing about or you'll tear your stitches young lady. You tell us if it hurts." he lectured.

"Clea..." started Raina. "the most important thing right now is for you to get better. When Clea gets better Raina will help her find Mama. And I know it's not your fault Cecil got cancer. If daddy told you that... he's wrong." Raina said the last words very seriously looking sternly at Clea. "But we can worry about that later. First things first Clea needs to get better. Is Clea hungry?"

Slowly, Clea nodded, the replied with, "Yes." She heard her stomach growl, and she grabbed her stomach. "Clea's sorry." She tired to remeber her favorite foods, but none came to mind. She thought about what Raina had said, "Raina told Clea that she could help Clea control her powers? So Clea can run away faster and put herself back together?" She fell back from leaning back so much. She touched her chest. "It feels a little fuzzy now, like when Daddy gave me medicne to make the pain go away. Also it help me got to sleep to, But Clea's not tired so she'll stay awake."
She realized now was a good time to start shutting up, sinceshe was talking like a floodgate. Quickly, she covered her mouth.