Chapter 1: Contentment Kills

Contentment. It's a dangerous thing. You start to take the positive things in your life for granted, pretend that all the negative things aren't really there, and ignore your instincts, all because you're comfortable and don't want to rock the boat. But it always gets rocked, and then all the good things are suddenly gone, your doubts and fears overwhelm you, and your instincts just tell you one thing – run.

I hadn't seen it coming the first time, back home in Mississippi, but how could I have? My life got upended the moment my mutation manifested. I ran, had to start anew, and should have learned my lesson. I should have seen it coming the second time.

Looking back on it, it was bound to happen. My life at Xavier's was pretty cushy. Not great, but comfortable. I had grown content with having free room and board, being able to be open about my mutation, I even had some real friends. My instincts kept telling me that was something was wrong, that I had to leave, had to create a new life for myself elsewhere. But I was far too content in my little world to listen to what I perceived to be nagging doubts.

The reality of it hit in a hurricane of betrayal and heart-break. Even if I tried, I can't remember the details of that day, just the emotions. I had blinded myself to my feelings for Logan, and fooled myself about his feelings for me. The truth hit me like a ton of bricks, and I wasn't the only one. It was Scott who caught them together. It was Scott who found his fiancé making passionate love to another man. It was Scott whose relationship was torn asunder by the affair. And as bad as I felt for Scott, the horrible weight of the emotions that befallen me that day made me believe that I had been the one who had been betrayed.

The mansion was eerily quiet for the next week, as if every mutant in the place was holding a collective breath. I started packing the day after it happened, and began my search for a job and an apartment in the city. The silence of the school was too much to bear, especially when my mind was constantly racing. Logan tried to talk to me once during that week, but I blew him off. I was too mad and too hurt to listen to him. There was nothing he could say to change the fact that he broke my heart without even knowing he had my heart to begin with.

The day I left, I went to see the Professor to thank him. He gave me a sad and knowing smile, and said there would always be a place for me there. Then I went to see Scott. He had taken up sitting on the dock by the boathouse, just gazing across the lake. For a while, we had feared that he would try and drown himself. We had all taken turns to watch over him. It had become clear after a few days that he was just going there to think. He was there thinking, with his head down and his feet hanging limply over the dock's edge when I walked up.

He knew I was there, but said nothing. I crouched down beside him and tentatively put my gloved hand on his shoulder. "I'm going." I told him. He nodded. "I'm sorry," was the only other thing I could think to say.

He looked at me then, and softly uttered, "So am I."

This story is going to eventually have a pairing that I haven't used before. I've set myself to write exactly one page on MS Word for every chapter, and I hope to update every day, but no promises.