Ruse •X-men•

Prologue 0.8

Dannielle hadn't said a word since Darwin was killed. She'd cried for hours as they sat out the front of the destroyed building with the rest of them as military forces quickly made it to the scene and secured the area.

Dannielle hadn't moved from under Alex's arm since they'd sat down. She'd managed to stop crying after some time but her eyes were left red and puffy. The sun had come up over an hour ago before Charles, Erik and Moira returned. Charles was the first to run up to them, calling out for the blonde woman sitting next to her. Raven stood and only had to move a few meters before she was brought into a warm embrace before letting each other go.

"We've made arrangements for you to be taken home immediately." Charles told them.

"We're not going home." Cassidy replied.

"What?"

"He's not going back to prison and she's not going back to people who don't care about her." He added.

"He killed Darwin." Alex spoke up.

"All the more reason for you to leave. This is over." As soon as the words left his mouth, Dannielle looked up at him.

"As soon as they see me again, they send me to an orphanage." Her words seemed to strike a cord in him yet Charles didn't say a word.

"Darwin's dead, Charles. And we can't even bury him."

"We can avenge him." They all looked over to Erik, seemingly taken to the idea unlike Charles.

"Erik, a word please." Quickly Charles walked out of hearing range as did Erik, only, Dannielle could still hear them.

"They're just kids." Charles whispered.

"No, they were kids. Shaw has his army, we need ours." Erik replied calmly, causing Charles to sigh.

"What about Dannie?"

"Shaw tried to take her last night, she needs to know how to protect herself, how to use her power." Erik replied.

"She doesn't know her powers yet, Erik!"

"But she will and she needs our help!" Erik's last words caused Charles to turn and look at the said girl, who'd been staring at the back of their heads for the past minute.

"We'll have to train, all of us. Even you Dannie. Yes?" They all nodded, Alex saying a 'yes' out loud.

"We can't stay here, even if they reopened the department it's not safe." Hank said, "we've got nowhere to go."

"Yes we do."

Dannielle silently watched as they all began to move to an army truck. It had already been filled with all their things. Next to it was a car which had room for five people and the truck had room for three, so, since Dannielle was the smallest, she sat in the middle of the two people in the truck and throughout the whole journey, slept like a rock. She hadn't had much sleep in the passed few days so when she woke up a few hours later, the little girl had some energy back.

Quickly she scrambled out of the truck, almost falling into Moira as she jumped from the passenger side. Her little legs took her from that truck out onto the grass where she could look upon a huge field of trees and grass but when she turned around, the magnificent mansion was as beautiful as anything she'd seen.

-----

Raven had taken Dannielle on a tour through the large house, showing her room after room after room while giggling at the cute remarks and gasps of amazement that left her mouth.

"This is amazing Raven! I can't believe you live here!" Raven laughed at the beaming girl, she'd never see her so happy.

"Charles took me in when I was younger. I've lived with him ever since." She said.

"I like Charles, he's very nice. So is Erik and Moira and everyone here!" Dannielle began to ramble slightly and blushed when Raven giggled. They sat down at one of the sofas in the living room, once again night had come and Dannielle could feel her eyes begin to droop.

"You need to go to bed missy." Raven told her, watching as she shook her head with a yawn. Raven stood up, picking Dannielle up as she did and began to walk upstairs to put her to bed.

"We start training in the morning and Charles will want you up bright and early." Dannielle gave a small hum of acknowledgement. She'd finally let her eyes slide shut and sunk into Raven's arms. But she wasn't ready to sleep, she just wanted for Raven to leave her and she knew if Raven put her to bed, she would most likely do the same afterwards.

In the span of five minutes, Raven had tucked Dannielle in, turned the lights off and closed her bedroom door, leaving her in the darkness. She waited an extra minute, just to make sure Raven was no longer in the hallway and when she was absolutely sure she was gone, she threw the large duvet from the bed and scurried out of her bedroom.

Earlier in the evening, Raven had told her where each of their rooms were, so when she set off, she knew exactly what room she was looking for. Down the hall to her left, Dannielle quietly walked until she'd made it to her destination. The light coming from under the door gave her the indication that Erik was still awake, so she softly knocked on the door and when she heard him mumble for her to come in, she slowly pushed the door open.

Erik was sitting on his bed with a book in his hand. He hadn't looked at Dannielle until she had closed the door.

"Dannie? What are you doing up so late?" He closed the book and set it down on the stand next to his bed before standing up and walking over to her.

"Why did he hurt you?" She asked and as soon as the words left her mouth, Erik knew who she was talking about, but he couldn't comprehend it.

"W-What?"

"I saw the man hurt you when you were a little boy. I saw a memory the day Shaw came for us." Erik couldn't believe it. Charles never warned him that Dannielle had telepathy nor did he once mention it. Did he know? He must. Erik stood up and paced over to his bed and softly took a seat, waving Dannielle over when she didn't move.

"When I was younger, only a few years older than you, my mother and I were taken to a camp because of what we believed in. That's where I found out I could move metal." Erik's voice was soft. Dannielle quietly sat next to him, her blue eyes stared up at his as he continued, "Shaw killed my mother because I couldn't control my power. They experimented on me for years afterwards."

Dannielle couldn't believe what she heard. Even though she had already seen it, she didn't think it could actually have been the Erik she knew and now she couldn't help but feel sorrow and anger.

"I don't like Shaw." He words were almost as childish as the expression on her face. Dannielle sat there with her arms crossed with an angry pout, as if she'd had her favourite toy taken away and it made Erik laugh.

Erik had taken into account that even though she was smart and mature, she still acted like the six year old child she should have grown up as.

"I don't like him either, Dannie."