Aura had been back a short time still questions haunted her mind. The laptop still taunted her from beneath her bed, and she was ashamed to admit that the more she thought about it the more she believed the Sayre she had followed, was her mind playing tricks on her again. Only now had she admitted that much to herself, rather then she just lost track of him. Her memories bothered her and the more time went on the more she found herself questioning them and with it her self. Religion had never been her Forte but still as she looked up at the darkening sky, she wondered why the gods refused to take her still. She had no more friend's to talk about such things with, meld had dissapeared in Canada and no one had seen kasumi in a long time.

She had no real like or dislike for the woman she had came out here to meet. The meeting was one sided in the idea that Aura had never asked the other party about it. Aura knew the car from watching Mama leave the mansion, hidden from view. So when she came across the car she had approached it and found it empty, with the growing darkness of the night as cover.

Aura had no idea if Mama could understand the issues she had, but either way it was someone to talk to. Looking up at the Moon she leaned against the car, her form highlighted in the lamppost near the car. And while her hair had gotten longer and was now black, their was no Mistaking the Pink Aura that surrounded the woman. That Aura would tell most people to run, possibly call the police. Growing a bit board Aura formed a pair of chopsticks and then a fly swatter. Most humans would have ran from them, but to Aura at least mama was not a human, she was a mutant with the annoying power to cancel others powers. Aura knew that was the part of this that made her nervous, if somthing went wrong she was as useless as a human.

Technically, days should have been growing shorter as Christmas drew close; but instead, they seemed to be getting endless, and still too short for all the errands Gemma had to run. Organizing a family Christmas is trouble enough; organizing a family Christmas for a whole Mansion... that required near-mutant abilites.
She sighed as she left the store with bags upon bags packed with Christmas decoration (which, she had just discovered the day before, the Mansion did not own a single piece). It was already dark on the streets, except for the brilliant Christmas lights of New York City.
And the pink glow surrounding the girl who was leaning against her car.

Gemma almost dropped the shopping bags; but they did have fragile items in them, and shattering those would have been a huge waste of time and money. So she hold on to the bags as she cautiously walked closer to the car, watching the aura disappear as her own reached the girl. She did not look angry, or determined. Gemma was ready to run none the less.

"Aura?..."

Aura closed her eyes and clenched her teeth at what she knew was coming, as the woman she knew as mama approached her. Even knowing what would Happon' Aura's aura flared as it was erased by mama's field. Aura shuddered visibly at feeling her powers absence, she opened her eyes feeling weak and vulnerable, her eyes reflected an instinctual panic within her but Aura mentally threw it aside. She had a reason to be here she had even known this would happen, just Like Lenna. Aura liked to say she liked any mutant but mutants like mama and Lenna made her feel unsafe.

"your power is still disturbing, but i needed someone to talk to...." Aura looked away clearly bothered by something, as she spoke. "I....In Canada i went back....I..." her voice cracked, as she mentally remembered the full weight of the atrocity she had committed."I think the weight of what i have done is driving me mad......I just chased an illusion of a dead man around japan for four months" Aura said bitterly recalling her hunts for the ever just out of reach Sayr.

Aura had run out of friends and she did not wish to bring such a petty issue to abyss or Lori. This weakness she had to purge from herself. She would not be seen as weak in their eyes. Without Meld to anchor her, Aura had no one to talk to, so she simply trained and trained and thought and dwelt on her past, on every person she had watched die while she lived. SHe tried once more to, bring her Aura up even though she knew it was futile. Miracle would have never approved of her current mental state. Aura looked around feeling vulnerable without her aura around her. Aura's hair was tangled mess, contrasted with the almost pristine looking Japanese school uniform she was wearing, which never the less, looked quite wrinkled complete with red tie, and silver collar and skirt.

She looked like a mess.
Correction: she looked like a runaway. That was not all that surprising. Not even with the Japanese schoolgirl look.
What she said, on the other hand, was quite interesting.

>>"your power is still disturbing, but i needed someone to talk to.... I....In Canada i went back....I... I think the weight of what i have done is driving me mad......I just chased an illusion of a dead man around japan for four months"

A young girl looking for someone to talk to? Gemma could deal with that. Finally, she had a clue about how to reach Aura, without anyone getting hurt. Hopefully. What she was saying made little to no sense. but it was a start.

"All right" she nodded, opening the car and placing the shopping bags on the back seat "If you want to talk, I am willing to listen. Okay? Why don't we go somewhere? Are you hungry?"

She was not going to take Aura to the Mansion. But as long as she was in her adapted field, she was harmless enough to go and eat...

Aura considered the proposal for a moment. It was true out here their was likely to be a police car eventually. Still places to eat typically held humans, and Aura did not like being touched by the filthy mongrels. Aura let out a sigh as she watched mama load the car, she was hungry however and she figured had mama wanted to turn her in their were easier ways to do so. "Their was not much meat on that Yorkee" she said to herself considering the thin feral dog she had eaten for breakfast. She looked to hand and let out a light sigh, she did not like this much, but she needed this.

"That works" she said at last. Things had been so much simpler in the woods, their was never doubt or questioning of things and their seemed to be so much the rules never covered. SHe knew she could have went to Lori, but Lori knowing this weakness in her could never be. Such a defect would make her less valuable, less needed. She could not have that, she needed to maintain her status and cure herself at the same time.

As Aura entered the passenger seat she let out a smile. "Well at least this time our meeting will be kinder to your car" she said, recalling their first meeting for the joke. She was unsure if mama would understand much of what she was going to say, but it would be enough for the woman to listen. Fate was a terrible thing and dictated what your life would be like, still recently she had to question it. "You religious?" she asked. Aura scanned the area from incide the car and satisfied she looked forward, on could never be to safe.

>>"Their was not much meat on that Yorkee"

Gemma did her best to hide the shudder at that sentence. A mutant Japanese schoolgirl eating a Yorkie was not an image anyone would want in their mind. She tried to focus on the implications of it, of Aura so matter-of-factly stating she had resolved to eating family pets.
Oh yes, she was definitely hungry. Much unlike Gemma herself now.

>>"That works. Well at least this time our meeting will be kinder to your car. You religious?"

She chuckled as she sat in the driver's seat. Was that a joke?

"Yes" she nodded, starting a car "On my own way. Don't get to go to church too often, with all the things I am juggling" she added with a smirk. Things like, the well-being of a couple of dozen mutant kids.

"Are you?"

"Yes, i was Ordered to be back religious in the woods and so i am" Aura said simply. "The religion of Solarria state the world is Dominated by 9 gods and their king Soltra, Miracle favored the Nature Goddess Alpha and her message of evaluation and Mutant Superiority." Aura went on. She knew much of it by heart still despite not having heard it for two years or not having a mind for religion in her own opinion. Still Aura had founded herself on the principles, her religion taught her. Aura also knew had she not known the teachings well, she probably would have been killed, for not believing.

"See there lies the issue,, with the few who could talk to the goddess dead and their writings only covering so much....." She said, this was the source of her frustration. Aura had no idea what the goddess wanted and yet if she did not follow the goddess wishes she might well never be reborn into a new body upon her enviable death. "I believe the stress is causing me to see Sayre. It's weird, somtimes a smell, a sound or just stress will cause my old memories to surface and for a time they feel so real" She said not sure how else to describe her useually violent regressions to her forest days.

>>"Yes, i was Ordered to be back religious in the woods and so i am. The religion of Solarria state the world is Dominated by 9 gods and their king Soltra, Miracle favored the Nature Goddess Alpha and her message of evaluation and Mutant Superiority."

Gemma listened patiently. It was a weird religion and nothing she had ever heard about; most possibly a cult based on mutant superiority, there had to be a bunch of those around. But argiung with the religion drilled into her from childhood was not a good way to start a discussion. So she just listened.

>>"See there lies the issue, with the few who could talk to the goddess dead and their writings only covering so much.... I believe the stress is causing me to see Sayre. It's weird, somtimes a smell, a sound or just stress will cause my old memories to surface and for a time they feel so real"

All right. Bottom line, Aura was seeing someone who was not there. Maybe it had a connection to a mutation, or maybe it was solely psychological. But she was talking about it, and that was good. Gemma nodded again.

"Do you want to tell me more about this person you are seeing?" she asked her as she drove in the rush our traffic "I know you have mentioned the name before, but I am not sure about the details."

"When my powers emerged the humans immediately caged me. It was then i met Sayre and we spent long nights talking. Our jailers took him from his cage a lot but always left me. When we were Rescued by Miracle and her command group, Sayre was one of the few who made it out of the place alive with me and of the still fewer who made it through training" she said recalling what many people would have called barbaric training.

"In the forest Sayre soon became my second in command. We fought well together, but he got wounded. A Mortar had mangled his leg, orders were to kill those who could not make it back to Base. I could not bring my blade down on him and i abandoned him. He was captured and told everything he knew, days later everyone was dead. I Hunted him down after and killed him of course for the act, but i still see him from time to time and when i do, it's as if he is real" it was true her mind seemed to discard the fact that Sayre should have been dead when she saw these echoes.

"One Mistake and a 167 people died, like cattle. the lucky ones never opened their eyes. Had it not been for My aura i would have died like the others in my barracks. Trapped beneath the wood with my Aura drained i could only watch as my best friend's died one after another., i buried each one myself" she said though she had hoped burying the bodies would have in some war atoned for her sins. So far however it seemed that was not the case. She had been such a foolish child back then and she relived the moment in her mind often.

And she went and done it again.

Gemma drove in silence, forcing herself to conentrate on the traffic; being in a car accident every time she met Aura would have been a very bad track record.
Also, going to a nice restaurant was out of the question.

Finally, the traffic let up, and they drove away from downtown to a more quiet neighborhood; Gemma parked the car in a place where they were out of the way. Well, she thought to herself with a tiny smirk, she did not have to worry about muggers.

Stopping the engine, she sat in silence for a while, trying to come up with something, anything really, to say to that story.

"That's... quite a story." she sighed finally, looking at the girl. being honest is usually the best thing to do "I would be lying if I knew what to say to that. I have never met anyone who has been through what you have."

"Yeah, i figured that. I have met a great number of our kind and though most have been treated poorly, none of them, were taught what i was, or fought like i did. None of them know of the gods and goddesses or of the Prophet and Herold" she said shaking her head. Aura was recalling why she disliked this subject all together. Religion was a matter of belief and faith, Aura ahd both but not the rank to warrant the god's refuse much less attention.

She opened the car door, and slipped out of the car. What exactly had she expected Mama to be able to help with, she was unsure. "My fate is the battlefield, i know that, but this city.....their are many things the Prphet never mentioned" she said. One of the bigger issues had always been how to follow the orders of miracle with those of lori at the same time, when those issues contradicted each other.

>>"Yeah, i figured that. I have met a great number of our kind and though most have been treated poorly, none of them, were taught what i was, or fought like i did. None of them know of the gods and goddesses or of the Prophet and Herold"

She was, of course, right about that. Gemma had to agree... but then again, she was not entirely right. Not having anyone else who shared the same experience did not mean...
Aura left the car.

>>"My fate is the battlefield, i know that, but this city.....their are many things the Prphet never mentioned"

"Aura, wait." getting out of the car, she followed the girl "Just because you have gone through all that alone, that doesn't mean we can't talk about it. I really want to be able to help you. You know a lot that I don't... but just like you just said, there are a lot of things that are strange to you. What you know about the world... from your prophet... is just a small segment if what is around us. I can help you figure out the rest."

"Don't worry, im not going any ware, she said as she moved from Mama's range, Her aura burst into view around her, and Aura breathed a noticeable sigh of relief. Quickly her Aura toned down until is was barely visible. Aura despised not being able to call on her Aura when she wanted to, she was to use to fighting and to consider all the dangers out there to be comfortable with nothing but flesh to protect her.

"Do you know how strange it was the first day i left the forest and no one was shooting me, or otherwise trying to kill me? In the forest we simply assumed that was how the world was. Most of us who ended up with Miracle and the Prophet were rescued from labs and holding pens. I know now, most humans are harmless" Aura said which was true, Aura tended to keep her hunting to gnag members and homeless people.for that reason.

Aura turned back, and walked through Mama's field her Aura seeming to end at a line until it ceased entirely. "I have often wondered what i would have been had i had parents" Aura said she did of course have parent, she knew that but who they were and what they looked like were mysteries to her. "to have grown up in a city like this" Aura admitted aloud. [/color] She walked back to the car and would either get in or stay depending on what mama did.

>>"Don't worry, im not going any ware"

Now that was a relief. An upset Aura walkign away from her was not an idea she would have easily slept with. She watched as she called up her powers; her pink aura, as deadly as it was, at the same time looked fascinating. Gemma allowed her time to enjoy having her pwoers back. Her nullifying field tended to have that effect on people.

>>"Do you know how strange it was the first day i left the forest and no one was shooting me, or otherwise trying to kill me? In the forest we simply assumed that was how the world was. Most of us who ended up with Miracle and the Prophet were rescued from labs and holding pens. I know now, most humans are harmless"

She nodded, listening. That made a lot of sense. Also, it meant that Aura had been thinking, and coming to conclusions. For someone as thoroughly brainwashed as her, that was a big step.

>>"I have often wondered what i would have been had i had parents. to have grown up in a city like this"

Having parents in itself wouldn't do the trick, Gemma thought, thinking about the parents of Agnes and Chase, and many other kids. But Aura was right on being different.

"If you had parents who raised you in the city" she mused "You would have learned different things. They would have taught you that you are important because of who you are, not your powers. They would have taught you to enjoy being a child, and play, and have friends, and they would have fought for you so you don't have to. They would have accepted and loved you just as you are, and would not have changed anything."

She smiled a bit at the girl.

"Not all parents are like that. But all of them should be."

It was a pleasant thought anyway, caring parents, school and not having to fight. Aura was at a loss to think of what any of these other things she might learn was. Still she knew in that case she would likely have lived far longer then she would ever do so here. The front lines had a way of high losses, more then most other areas of combat. Aura had long accepted that still it did not change the fact that she thought about it from time to time.

"That would have been nice, i don't recall anything before my powers, so i cant tell you if my actual parents were kind loving people, or drug dealing gang members. My parents simply stood and watched as the Humans caged me upon my powers emerging. Had things happened differently, i would like to believe you are right. It's a nice thing to think about she said with a brief content look to her face, what she pictured in her head was not a normal family by any means but far more so then her own actual life.

"But it is a lovely dream, but a selfish one. Had i not gone and fought in the woods others mutants, whose powers are less suited for the dance of combat might of been forced to fight and even now, i could stop fighting, but if i did, the children in their mothers wombs would have to pick up the fight in time. My Aura protects me from most things physically." she said with a brief paused.

"It's funny, in the woods, we were not aloud to question the word of the gods, or the orders we were given. Since Miracle could heal wound's she saw little reason not to personally beat us for each infraction upon the the religion or Orders. However nether addresses what to do when one's leader is killed, as we were all expected to sacrifice our selfs so the command group could survive. It's part of the reason i am the only one left alive" she said simply. Her voice told that she had no ill will for Miracle despite the beatings.