Summary: There are 2 new mutants at Bayville high. One is an outgoing senior who is trying to look out for the younger one, the other is an easily manipulated, self-conscious sophomore. Both have their own reasons for not getting close to people.

Disclaimer: X-Men belong to Stan Lee and Marvel Comics. X-Men: Evolution belongs to Kids WB and Marvel Comics. Scarlett Marsden and Helen Sadey belong to me.

CHAPTER 1:
The Changing Times

Two years.

730 days.

17,520 hours since Scarlett had first used her powers.

Sixteen years, the very day of her birth, since she had been branded an outcast.

Twelve years of stinging bleach penetrating through her scalp, burning her head and eyebrows.

Eleven years of keeping her head down, her mouth closed, never smiling or laughing.

Fourteen years of wondering where her mother had disappeared to.

Ten years of praying for her father's cigarette addiction.

All her life being afraid to cry.

Now, the fear was greater, for if she cried ... only God knows what would happen. FoH, Sentinels ... mutant-hunters. They were always waiting around every bush, every corner, lurking in the shadows, just waiting to snatch her from her rather peaceful life in Bayville.

And then there was her father. If he saw her cry, if he saw the water droplets forming, then the look of pain and embarassment of knowing what his child - his only child - was.

Pushing the blonde hair behind her ears early one morning, the cool morning sunlight shining down on her through an open window, Scarlett Marsden examined her rather scraggled reflection in the mirror, her gray eyes staring back at her. She leaned forward and lifted up her lip with one finger and turned to the side a little bit. She squinted her eyes and examined the tiny fang set in her jaw. Pulling her finger away, she watched as her reflection began to lose the early morning cloudiness and began to droop, then watched as her lip began to quiver and her eyes began to sting. She furiously rubbed her tears away.

"Can't cry now," she said.

Pushing her wet hair back behind her ears, she pulled the hood of her sweatshirt down over her head, hiding her hair that was just beginning to show tips of blue.

Keeping her eyes downcast, she walked downstairs to the door. That morning, she wasn't feeling particularly hungry. Her father was most likely at work already, leaving the entire house to herself.

But she had nothing to do with it. It was just a ceiling, a few walls, and food. It meant nothing to her. She knew others on the street would be envious of the rather large suburban home, but she couldn't help but not care. Spending five years straight within the walls had given her a bitter view of it.

She watched the spot on the living room floor, the shadow cast by a plant, and remembered her mother had sat there, homeschooling her for the first five years of her life. She remembered one day not having her lessons. And she remembered the sudden burst of inspiration to draw pictures of women screaming, familiar face contorted in pain. Her mother, yet ... not. Her father had torn up the paintings, forbidding her from ever holding a paintbrush again. But that was a broken vow. She shut her eyes, remembering how oddly young the woman in her drawing had been. Yet, it looked like her mother.

She walked over to the space next to the shadow. "I miss you, Mommy," she whispered, though she knew if her mother was still around she would still never see the light of day or the inside of a classroom. And if her mother was still alive, she wouldn't have any friends and she wouldn't have Helen -

There was a knock at the door and Scarlett turned her head sharply, causing a swift pain to travel up the base of her skull. "Ahhg!" she cried, placing a hand to the back of her head and getting up. She walked to the door, watching the window as the dark haired, green-eyed, senior smiled and waved back at her.

Scarlett returned the wave feebly and opened the door.

"Hey! Ready to go?" Helen chirped.

Scarlett didn't know why Helen hung around her. "Yeah, sure." She picked up her backpack and headed out the door, Helen walking behind her.

Helen had straight, hip-long black hair that was always tied in a loose ponytail at the back of her head with an oval, forest green clip. There were the faintest hint of freckles sprinkling her nose and her eyes were the clearest, roundest, brightest green eyes she had ever seen. Helen was nearly 5'10", much taller than Scarlett's 5'3", and had a way of forcing everyone to respect her.

Scarlett, on the other hand, was a short, gray-eyed, blonde. Her hair was wavey and ended at her biceps, and she always walked with her head down. No one knew her name and no one would ever know her name because she had no reason to tell anyone. She was soft-spoken and petite. Her lips pointed downwards a little and she always looked hurt or scared, like a baby fawn. She, in her mind, was a monster.

"Hey!" Helen said as they walked down the street. "Wanna see what I can do?"

Scarlett stopped walking and stared at Helen.

Helen looked up and down the street, then pulled Scarlett behind some bushes. "Check this." Helen's smile disappeared and her legs began to shimmer and vanish, being replace by a shadow.

" ... What-?"

"Just watch." Helen continued her metamorphosis and soon, she had a genie-type effect.

"You look like the Genie from 'Aladdin'," Scarlett quipped.

"Well, thanks!" Helen paused and smiled, then rose a little into the air, putting her hands together above her head and singing in a loud, whiney voice. "I'm a genie in a bottle, Gotta rub me the right way!"

"Helen!" Scarlett laughed.

"Ya know, I've never seen your power," Helen reminisced, trying to remember if Scarlett did in fact have one.

" ... So?"

"Well, what is it?"

"I told you."

Helen nodded, not smiling anymore, and the two continued on their way to school, both secretly grateful that there were only two more blocks.

"Sorry, but you know I can't show you."

"Yeah, I know. You might get caught," Helen sighed.

"You know, you should be more careful, too."

"Relax, I got it all taken care of. Besides," Helen shrugged, "what could possibly happen in Bayville?"

***

Professor Xavier pulled away from Cerebro, taking off the large, bright helmet. He examined the screen and the girl's face that had appeared on it. She was drawn in green lines and the screen moved around so that he could see all angles and search for any physical mutation. The screen began to shade in the colors and display her statistics.

"Hmmm ... Helen Sadey. 18. 5'10". 125 pounds. Bayville High. Just as I suspected." Putting his fingertips to his temples, he attempted to call together the most reliable X-Man and the one best suited for the job: Storm. "Storm. Come in, Storm."

*Yes, Professor?* he heard her calm voice say.

*There is a sighting of a mutant at Bayville High. I believe she is in a few of Scott's classes.*

*Would you like me to find her?*

*Yes. And please,* he said, *steer clear of the Brotherhood. Any trouble with them could mean losing her.*

***

"Oh, up yours, Lance."

Scarlett watched as Helen waved him off.

"Just back off. Don't you have some hyrdrants to sniff or something?"

***

Storm flew into the air, heading towards Bayville high. School would not start for another half hour and Charles had confirmed that they were already there. If she could just make it there before the Brotherhood ...

***

"What seems to be the problem here?"

Helen looked up at the towering principal. "Oh, nothing. Everything's fine, Ms. Darkholme."

Ms. Darkholme stared at Helen and Scarlett watched as her brown eyes narrowed and she looked Helen up and down. She would need to get her alone before the day was out. "Shouldn't you be going to class?"

"But the - "

The bell rang.

"Wow. She's good," Scarlett murmured to Helen as the passed each other on their way to their separate classes. Scarlett walked toward Publice Speaking. The only class I've ever failed.>> she thought bitterly and resolved not to take it again next year. Junior year. She cringed as she thought of how close she was getting to college. She knew she would get in to one, but the thought of leaving everything she had ever known excited and scared her at the same time.

She pushed her way in through the crowded door, accidently hitting someone as she passed. She felt a sweep of fur across her forearm and looked up, alarmed, half expecting to see a classmate carrying a pet.

Instead she saw Kurt, who looked as if he was trying to supress surprise as well.

Trying to ignore what had happened, Scarlett made her way to her seat in the middle of the class. She found that the teachers kept an eye on the kids in the back and called on the kids in the front. The sides were also teacher territory. But in the middle, behind the tallest boy in class, she was relatively safe.

"First off, announcements ..."

Scarlett was already beginning to lose interest, something that happened rarely for her. She absent-mindedly turned back to Kurt. What had she felt? It couldn't be fur. She saw his shirt. The shirt! That was it! She had brushed against the shirt! No way had she felt fur.

She turned back to the teacher and ran her tongue over her right fang and pressed it against the point until it hurt then clenched her teeth. She would give nearly anything to be rid of them.

But still, she felt uneasy about the fur she had felt earlier. She, once again, dismissed it as sleep-deprivation and the fact that she had eaten nothing for breakfast, the most important meal of the day.

***

Raven Darkholme sat in her chair, watching the children in P.E. class. Rising, she drew the curtains and turned back to her desk. Frowning, she said, "I hope Magneto has not lost his mind. Surely this child must be nothing more than a week, immature human." Just before she changed shape, she said, "I'll make my prescence unknown to her, I'll spy. I'll be like a fly on the wall." With that, she buzzed from the room and straight for Physics class.