Meld got off the Greyhound bus and stretched her legs. With the return to her city, Vancouver, memories came flooding back to her. She had spent almost her entire life here, first as a normal and happy human, or so she had thought, and then as a mutant. The memories of her human life were conflicted. On one hand they were mostly happy memories, with her parents and her sister. She had felt loved by both friends and family and had always been a good student, never a disappointment to anyone. But her childhood had also been full of anti-mutant sentiments and discrimination against her people. Of course, she didn't know that they were her people at that time, that hadn't come until later. That and the death of her sister are the two events that caused her to flee her home never to return again. Until now.

The years after she had discovered she was a mutant were far less conflicted and far more negative, although they too had their fond memories, fleeting though they might be. The positives included learning about her power and what she could do with it as well as the thrill of completing job after job successfully. The negatives included, not only profound loneliness at the loss of her family and an intense bitterness surrounding that, but also the knowledge that it was the beginning of the downward spiral of her soul. She had done many things during that time, from theft, to bounty hunting, to working as a body guard for less than upstanding citizens. In fact, she had done almost everything except kill during that time. The killing had come later but the skills she had perfected during those first years had certainly helped make the killing possible.

In recent weeks many things had happened in her life and she had undergone a certain crisis of conscious. That was, at least mostly, resolved within herself but it made her realize that she needed to confront her past. She would never have peace of mind unless she did so, she knew that now. She had been avoiding doing so for a long time, years in the case of confronting her parents, and less time than that when it came to confronting some of her former employers. But each, in their own way, were necessary for her to progress with her life. And quite likely, the latter would result in at least one death, if not more. She couldn't have her former employer, more than one perhaps, continue to hunt her.

Meld flagged down a taxi and gave the driver an address, the last known address of her parents. It took a while for one to stop for her, it was never easy to do so being such a visible mutant, and she gave him a nod of appreciation when he did, which was returned in kind. It was good to know that not all humans hated her kind. In many ways this would be the most difficult part of her trip and thus it was the part she needed to get done with first. She didn't know how she would react to seeing her parents again, nor did she know how they would react to seeing her. She only knew that she had to do this and felt half dread and half anticipation to seeing them again.

Meld payed the taxi driver and stepped out of the cab in front of a large 3 story house and the memories came flooding back to her. A birthday party when she was 8. All of her friends were there and her sister and her parents. She was the center of attention and everyone loved her. It was one of her happiest memories. Countless hours spent at her desk studying, always studying,, so that she could be good enough to make it into university. Watching television with her sister, the two of them had always been close. Sharing a meal with her mother and her father and her sister. Another birthday party when she was 14 that should have been like the first but wasn't because a friend, a girl by the name of Teresa, had proven herself to be a mutant. Her power wasn't dangerous but she didn't have good control and colors went everywhere, everything changing wildly from blue to green to purple and back again. There had been yelling and fear and poor Teresa was kicked out violently and Meld was forbidden to ever see her again, although back then she was known as Aris and not Meld. Then there was her last night with her family, the night of the attack when her sister had died and she had lost her hand only to replace it with what she thought was an art project. So many memories it was almost painful.

Meld took a deep, steadying breath and knocked on the door, almost hoping that no one would be home and that no one would answer. So much easier would it be if she didn't have to do this, if she never had to see them again, even though she knew that she had to. After a moment someone answered and Meld stood there paralyzed. It was a woman, in her mid 40s, black hair and green eyes just as Meld herself had. In fact, if you took away the piercings and the flesh melds they looked very much similar. It seemed to Meld that her mother was just as frozen by shock as she herself was, unsure what to say and for a long minute both of them stood, imobile, staring at one another. And then, "Aris?" It was said quietly, barefly more than a whisper and if Meld hadn't been listening for it she wouldn't have even heard it.

Suddenly Meld was crying and her mother was crying and they were in one anther's arms crying together. For that one moment none of it matter, none of the past or the fact that she was a mutant and her mother hated mutants, it didn't matter at all. For that one moment they were mother and daughter reunited after more than 3 years of separation. But it couldn't last and Meld knew that it couldn't last. Finally, reluctantly, she pulled away from her mother. She was no longer a child and, in truth, her mother was no longer her mother, not in any way that mattered. Not unless she could accept Meld for who she now was an she had her doubts.

"Mom." She didn't know what to say, where to start, and her mother just stood there staring, taking in all the changes that her daughter had undergone. And slowly her mother's expression changed to one of relief and joy, to one of confusion and finally revulsion. "Its not what you think," Meld tried to begin. It was exactly what she thought, of course, but what does one say to one's mother when you are being given such a judgmental disgusted stare? There was nothing to be said, nothing that mattered.

"Isn't it?" her mother interrupted her, tone brutally hateful. "Are you saying that you're not a filthy mutant? That you did not allow your sister to die because you are a filthy rotten mutant who can do nothing but destroy and corrupt?"

Meld started crying again. She hated that she was weak, that she couldn't stand up to her mother. She should be able to stand up to the woman, she had done so many other things over the years, some of them horrible things and all of them more dangerous than this, and yet she couldn't seem to do it. All she could seem to do was sit there, like a little child, weeping and she hated herself for it.

"I always knew there was something about you, something off. I knew but I did nothing. Your sister was always the better daughter, we both know that." Her voice became louder, almost hysterical. "It was you that should have died, not her. You had no right to cause her death. No right at all! You-"

"I should have what?" Meld finally yelled, snapping. She had taken all that she could take from the woman. "I should have sacrificed myself for her? Or I shouldn't have been a mutant?" She glared menacingly, anger building her confidence. "Well I have news for you mother," she emphasized the last word like it was an insult, "I am a mutant and I am proud of it. All of your hatred, all of your discrimination, it was wrong and I have killed people for doing less than you have done. If there is anything wrong with me it is because of you, because of what you've done to me! And you know something mother? You are not my mother anymore. I disown you. You are, after all, only human, with the same position as any dog." She spat at her mothers feet.

Meld's mother stood there, stunned at her daughter's words. Whether she decided to speak or not, Meld no longer cared. She was finally free of the shadow her family had placed over her entire mind and life, finally free to let go of her past. "Tell father that I said hello and that this will be the last time you see me. At least, you better hope it is because if I ever see either of you again I will kill you for your hatreds." With those words she held her head high and turned around, walking away and leaving her mother standing in stunned silence on the porch staring at her.